Link Of Our Time chapter 1
by sineadkfoley
Summary: Our Hero of Time is living in modern day Japan with his sister Mya and Nanna. He learns that his parents have been killed by a new gang called Shanklin' Order, now they want to raise Canon, Calamity Gannon' descendant from his seal to destroy old Hyrule, taking Earth with it. Link has always loved playing the game but is refusing to accept he's the new Hero of Time.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

 **New kid on the Block**

"Have you ever wondered what it might have been like if the Hero of Time had been a real person? Have you ever wondered what it might be like to meet him? That if you saw him, you'd just know it was...him"

This sweet voice was ringing through Link' mind as he tossed and turned in his sleep,

"Hero of Time"

A bright bolt of lightening flashed, waking him up, followed by thunder and a knocking on the front door.

"Huh...what?!"

Now his little sister Mya was knocking on his bedroom door. Link got out of bed and stretched as Mya came into the room and walked over to the window to look out.

"It's the police Link, what do they want?"

"I don't know Mya, I can't read minds and don't call me Link, it's Li, Nanna's got them, it's alright" Link told her kindly

"Please Link, listen with me"

Link frowned, then nodded, they snuck out of his room and hid on the landing, where they crouched to listen to the conversation downstairs.

The house was very beautiful and full of oriental charm, Link and Mya' father was a Japanese man, who taught martial arts at a prestigeous school in Japan and their mother was a white American new age healer, who even Link had to admit had strange powers.

"I am sorry to have to tell you this but Link Senior and Ruto were prenounced dead at the scene with odd markings on their bodies" The police officer was telling them in Japanese,

Before he could stop himself Link ran down the stairs, grabbed his father' sword off the wall and brandished it at the police officers,

"Lies!" He yelled in English

"I am sorry Link but what he's saying is true" His Nanna told him calmly, "You need to get a handle on your rage and stop denying what you already know"

"I am not this great hero you all say I am, I'm just an ordinary boy" Link blasted "Or at least I was, now I'm an orphan" he added breaking down in tears,

"One who lives by the sword, and has skills most could only hope to have" The police officer said

"I had the best teacher" Link replied dismissively.

"Who do you think taught him?" The police officer said in question, "Link, your family and the secret Royals of Hyrule have protected this planet for centuries, they even made a computer game about your ancestors"

"I know, I've clocked all but two of them, I love that game, I live for that game, that game is fricking awesome...but I am not the Hero of Time"

"Link"

It was his scared sister,

Link dropped the sword and hugged her. Then turning back to the officer he said, "Who was after them, and if what you're saying is true, do they know about me? Because if they do it won't be long before they come after us, we can't stay here"

"There's a gang called; Canon' Order, led by a Garudo called; Shanklin, they want to use a scroll the secret Royals hid long ago but there was a power within a number of mierals he could use too and they protected the space, they can also be used to power up the sword weilded by the master.

Shanklin got close last year and so those symbols were hidden all over again by the Earth Resident Hyrule Royals Hi-Range, and the portals shut down" The second police officer told him

"What were these symbols?" Link asked

"We think they're from the Shanklin...we need someone to identify the bodies as it happens, the head of the H.O.T order, Dew, is waiting at the hospital. He wants to get the symbols analysed"

Link nodded.

"Link...you can't just go rushing into this without training, you know how to use a sword, great, but being the Hero of Time means, takes, is...more than that" Nanna told him

"Hero or no hero Nanna, you can't go out in this, someone needs to stay and look after Mya and my parents need identifying, I won't be long" Link said

The first police officer handed Nanna a piece of paper,

"Take this to the man in the long white coat with the Hyrule symbol on the back, he'll take you to a safe haven for the night and get word to the Hi-Range Royals to bring the plans forward, myself and Dew will personally escort Link there after we're done"

"Thank you"

Before Link could get out the door Mya had grabbed him the for a hug.

"I'm scared" She told him

Link bit back his tears and left with the first police officer.

"You have an adorable little sister Link" The first officer said as they got into the waiting black car,

"Thank you" Link said, "I prefer Li to Link"

"How old are you?" The first officer asked

"I'm 16" He replied,

"What would it take for us to prove to you that you are what we all say you are?"

"The Master Sword" Link replied with a grin

"Oh you're not ready to hold that"

"Please, even if the sword to slay Ganon or Canon and his ancestors was real it'd be an extreemly heavy Hepititus risk to ones health by now"

"Actually its a stunning Japanese metal that witholds a piece of the first Princess's spirit and a blue handle" The officer smiled when he saw he had Link' attention "She lost it during the Hylian Civil War, her soul that is"

"How could we be ancestors then if she died in the War? Come on" Link said incredulously

"I said the sword holds a piece of her soul, I didn't say she died, the first Princess was a Godess, given the body of a Hylian, all they knew was a man, wounded by the fact that his theiving tribe had been banished from Hyrule and sister land Hi-Range would try and steal the powers of her opposite, Canon, to overthrow the Royal family, Hi-Range and Hylian mingle with other Goron, Korki decendents, that's Kokiri that left and grew up, Zora and human with Hylians living in the village around the hedge like walls of the palace of Hi-Range"

"They needed a God to defeat a God" Link summerised

"Indeed but she could only seal him for a time, she couldn't defeat all the creatures he created to guard the temples, within which were held the only minerals that could hurt the God within him. Why would killing them and the use of the minerals help?" The officer tested Link,

"With the energy of the creatures slane by one sword, a sword made by the Princess herself and the power drained from the minerals, into the same sword the swordsman would defeat the human body so the God could be sealed" Link said

"And you're not the Hero of Time?" The police officer asked with a smile

"I told you I've played the games, it's not that much of a stretch to summerise it"

"Have you ever had dreams about being in a palace and a young woman asking if you ever thought about what it might be like to meet the Hero of Time?"

"How could you know that?" Link asked, suddenly uncomfortable

"Your dad told me about dreams of the Princess' mother, but they weren't dreams, they were conversations had between herself and another party, you have hidden abilities that need awakening if we're going to avenge your parents and save the world"

Link was silent for the rest of the trip, mostly out of worry, not for this task ahead of him, more for how he was going to react to seeing his parents laying before him, and the safety of his little sister Mya and his Nanna.

Link was lead into a viewing room, where stood a very serious, and very tall Japanese man, he made Link look and feel like a midget,

Link was at least 5'10.

"You must be Link, I am Dew" The man said shaking his hand, almost breaking it and shaking him in the process

"Li" He bagan a little arrogently, then catching a look in his eye he added, "Link, yes I am, sorry...I am quite shaken...by the events that have befallen me and my family tonight"

"I quite understand Link, are you ready?" He asked

"For what?" Link asked, the first police officer bowed his head in shame, "Oh. My parents, yes, I think I'm ready"

Link was overcome however when the sheets were pulled back and Dew took pity on him, steadying him as he crumpled,

"They have an answer, Zane, take photos of those symbols" Dew said to the first police officer, then to Link he added, "I am sorry Link but we cannot linger, when this is over we will lay them to rest but for now we must get you and your family to a safe place, I will come with you and...blend in"

"Is that a joke? You're at least 7 feet tall, what're you going to pose as a basket ball coach?"

"You have your father' lip, for what has transpired I'll let that slide"

Mya was still wide awake when Link arrived at the safe house with Zane and Dew.

Their Grandmother was busy cooking, she looked up and smiled at him sady as he nodded.

Mya ran to Link and hugged him tight,

"Don't fight Link" She begged

"I've fought before Mya" Link replied kindly

"Those monsters weren't real" Mya sobbed

Link tucked Mya into her bed for that night, sat cross legged at the other end of it and from a box down beside him he took out his Link action figure and gave it to her.

Zane and Nanna stood by the door and smiled at the sight,

"We're all going on a big adventure little Sis, and if I have to be brave you can be to, I may have to leave you for a while, this whole hero thing is going to take a bit of getting my head round but that doll represents one of our bravest ancestors and my heart beats in his so if I'm not there and you're afraid just hold that doll and I'll hear your cries. I'll find you and I'll destroy anyone that ever tries to hurt you"

Mya was stunned.

"But Link, he's your favourite"

Link didn't respond, he just left the room with a nod at Zane and a kiss on Nanna' cheek.

Zane and Dew later sat down at the kitchen table to discuss what was to happen next, while watching Link train with his sword in the enclosed garden outside.

"He has a lot of fire in him" Dew said

"But the kindest heart" Zane added, "He's coming round, have they informed the Royal family?"

"Yes and a home and school placement has been found for both Link and his sister...I am to tutor at the school so I can keep an eye on both him and the Princess" Then with thought he added, "I wonder what he'll make of her now"

"Dew, I would very much like to guide Link, his father was my closest friend, I know quite a bit, I could be of help to him when they go to retrieve the minerals" Zane said

"We will see, you can definitely come to the States with us though"

As Link came into the house there was a tremor, a few cups were knocked down off shelves and doors opened and slammed, waking and frightening Mya and Nanna. A few pot plants tipped over too and a bookcase that Link stopped from injuring them before it finally stopped.

"What was that?" Link asked, pushing the bookcase back and replacing the books that fallen with Mya, then as Nanna turned on the tv to the news and he saw a nasty cut on Zane' leg he added, "You'll want some of Nanna' soup for that, it's healed any wound I ever had"

"And that didn't strike you a little odd?" Dew asked as Link got him a bowl full from the cooker,

"Uh no, Nanna' are magical, everyone knows that" Link replied,

Zane grinned at Dew before sipping the soup.

Meanwhile, things at the palace of Hi-Range were strained, not just because of the events that had just taken place in Japan, Zelda or Zelph as she insisted on beig called, was at present oblivious to this. Zelph was about to go into 11th Grade at Highschool and for the first time ever she was year captain.

Zelph was a perfectionist and had her maids running around checking, double checking, tripple checking everything on her list.

"Has my uniform been pressed?" She asked as she paced a corridor,

This was something that had been introduced to schools in Hi-Range by the Royal Family last year, along with a strict set of rules adopted from Britains toughest schools in order to improve behaviour and empower the students to work hard for their dreams. The students loved it, they said it took the pressure off because they all looked the same now, they could keep what they had or didn't have to themselves. Sadly people still got picked on but for their lack of acedimia rather than looks or because of how poor or rich they were.

"Twice now Princess" Her maid said with a yawn

"The shoes polished? My sword blunted for SK training (Secret Knight training, a new after-school training program designed to find new guards for the palace) a gil tatu for swimming practice, pencils, rubbers, markers, pens, rulers, calculators, books, bag, pan-pipes" She turned around on receiving no response and found her maid asleep, standing up, a way back along the corridor. She walked back up to her and prodded, "Are you falling asleep on me Imray?" She asked with suspicion

"Yes Princess" Imray replied simply, "We all are, your father has had us working overtime, I caught Wendy trying to cook your boots earlier"

Zelph was astonished,

"Whatever for!?"

"We're not aloud to say" Imray told her

This had Zelph in a huff and she screeched at the top of her lungs,

"Father!"

This echoed all around the place, causing several people in the gardens of the palace, surrounding houses and the king himself to look up.

"Oh dear" The King groaned, then as she marched into his office, Imray a few flustered steps behind, he smiled weakly, "Something wrong my sweet?"

"Don't "My sweet" me father, you've been overworking my staff again, what's wrong with your own?" She demanded,

"They're dead" He said simply

"What do you mean they're dead!?" She screeched "And how can you be so blasé about that!? What happened? I want to know now!"

The King sighed and got up from his desk. He sat Zelph down and then removed a file from a safe behind a portrait of Zelph and her mother before sitting back down,

"I'm sorry Zelda" He said seriously.

"You only use my real name if I'm in trouble" Zelph said slowly

"Not in trouble, in danger" The King said, then sliding the file across to her he added, "The Shanklin obtained a spell from a Canon supporter in Japan and used it on a number of stones from the Wood Vine River to create the creatures of an unearthly nature, Link' parents were on route to an award ceramony when their car was overturned by them, they killed Link' mother and then, after a lengthly battle they killed his father too"

Zelph was overwhelmed,

"The stories were true?"

"The training temple is below the palace, my men went down there, convinced they could awaken the Hero' sword and not one came back, I can't do everything I need to do and run our land on my own so I used your staff to take over the running of the house while I could set out a plan that won't get you and Link killed too"

"Let me take my light arrows with me to school tomorrow, I can hide them from human sight" Zelph pleaded

"That won't be necessary Zelda, the Shanklen don't yet have the power they possess to break Canon from his seal, the scroll is impossible to obtain without certain elements. Just go about your buisness until Link arrives, I'll call you when I need you, not before" The King said,

"Link...the Hero of Time' son, the new hero, is coming here to Hi-Range?" Zelph asked suddenly aflutter

"Yes, he's blending in as part of an exchange program from Japan tomorrow but I don't want you harrassing every Japanese boy that looks your way" The King told her stirnly

"I won't!" She said defencively

"He's had a very rough few nights and by all acounts, from what I've been told he may have a pssionate heart, a loyal heart, a kind soul but right now he has quite a bit of rage too, so don't go falling for him, he's here for two things, avenge his parents and stop the Shanklin throwing this world into a new dark age. He was trained by the best, he doesn't have time for the distractions that come from High School crushes"

"I don't have a crush on him!" Zelph snapped

"He doesn't remember this place, or you, or the time you spent together, we made sure of that the last time Canon broke free as we wipe some events from your mind too" The King told her

Zelph was gutted,

"Why?" She asked

"Because the things you saw would burn into your minds and change the people we need you to become" He told her, "We're done here, get to bed, it's late"

Zelph left the room.

Zelph was only half listening to Imray as the cook made her a warm drink, she was muttering away about the palace and the King and how he shouldn't be putting this much pressure on two 16 year olds to save the world,

"Uh huh" Zelph said and first chance she got she'd snuck out the door,

"Here you go" Imray said turning around with the hot drink in Zelph' favourite cup, "Zelda? Zelda!?" She called, then putting the cup down and walking out the opposite door to the one Zelph walked out of she muttered to a kitchen maid, "That girl will be the death of me"

"I wouln't say that too loudly round here" She replied.

It took a while but Imray finally found Zelph with half her body in a chest in the attic of the palace, tossing stuff out behind her, making a huge mess as she tried to find her arrows.

"Where are they?" She said to herself in frustration

"What're you looking for?" Imray asked

Zelph screamed and walloped her head on the lid of the chest on her way up and then she sat cross legged on the hard wood floor, her pyjamas now ripped and covered in dust. She even found a spider on her arm, which she just flicked off casually,

"What're you doing up here?" She asked ungraciously

"I'm asking the questions" Imray replied stuffily, "Your drink' going cold"

"I don't want it" She sighed, "Do you know where father put my arrows? I know it was him that hid them"

"I'm sorry Zelda" Then catching the glare she corrected herself, "Zelph, maybe they're in the training ring and you're not going down there"

Zelph stormed out in a huff.

"Teenagers huh? Who'd have them?" Came a voice from the dark, making Imray jump

Dew came out of hiding, holding the arrows,

"Oh it's you"

"Not a bad idea, moving these into the training ring, they'll have to venture into it soon enough" Dew said

"She's upset about Link, he adored her once" Imray said sadly

"Times change"

"Not always"

"Yes well, I'm not here to talk about us but if it helps the Princess, here" Dew handed Imray a photo of Link, "That's what he looks like now"

Zelph took a long soak in the bath to help her feel tired, changed into some new pyjamas and was now sat on the bed crying over photos of herself and Link when they were kids when Imray came into the room with the new photo.

"I can't make him like me again, what if he's changed? What if he's not the Link I knew? Just removing your childhood friends from your memory, it's cruel" Zelph sobbed

"Oh sweetheart, in our world sometimes we do things we don't like because we have no choice, because to not would hurt more people in the long run" Imray tried to explain

"What's that?" She asked Imray, spying the photo

"It's a new photo for your albumn Zelph" Imray smiled, then as Zelph took it in her hands and stared at it she said, "This is the Link of our Time"

"Oh wow, he's beautiful"

Zelph was getting out of her minder' car, which was right outside the crowded school entrance and was being greeted by everyone when Link arrived with Zane driving him, Mya and her minder in the latest Nissan,

This drew everyone' attention, anyone who was anyone in this place wanted that car.

Zelph gave it a quick glance but didn't realise who it was at first and started busying herself with a 9th Grader'.

Link got out of the car in his crisp uniform and helped Mya out before they were joined by Zane and Mya' minder,

He smiled, a little embarrassed,

"Damn, I'm getting in with his crowd, that boy is fierce...must be one of the exchange boys" Said a Goron, then he noticed something in his hand, "Wrong, he's the new kid on the block, sweet!"

He caught Link' eye and gave him a big grin, which Link returned

"So much for blending in" Link said, then looking at the terrified Mya he smiled, "Awe Sis, don't be scared, this is my school" He pointed her middle school out to her and she sighed with relief, Mya was in 6th Grade, "Anyone gives you any hassle you send them over to your big brother"

A bus had just arrived, full of exchange students and this now had everyone' attention. Link gave Mya a cuddle and her minder took her across the road to her school.

One girl was watching, Ruler, she was a Zora decendent and the captian of the swimming team, she melted at this sight before joining Zelph,

"Have you ever wondered what it might have been like if the Hero of Time had been a real person? Have you ever wondered what it might be like to meet him?" Zelph asked Ruler, her words had Link' attention from the conciderable distance that he was from her, "That if you saw him, you'd just know it was..." As Link found Zelph and made eye contact with her Zelph gasped, "Him"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

 **The first day and a Kidnapping**

Link was about to walk over to Zelph when she was ushered one way and he another by Zane.

"Where are we going?" Link asked as they walked along a path connecting two buildings,

"In here" Zane said with a point and a nod, "I wanted to see if anything had changed"

Link and Zane stepped into a large sports hall where the SK training would later take place. Zane immediately had flash backs of messing about and dancing with Link Senior.

"This place brings back a lot of memories" Zane said, "The Zora Descendants, Hylians, Goron and even some Korki chose to blend in with this central realm over the centuries. Their family names altered over time so some don't even realise they are descendants. I am Korki, that place is long gone but Kokiri still stands. Hylians are teriffic archers, you can't beat them, Zoras have startling eyes and are fabulous swimmers, the Goron are very spiritual, loyal, hard working people, they find it hard to trust people so their friends usually consist of other Gorons or Hylians. No one messes with the Goron and just to warn you, some of the students here can be a bit much, try not to get into any fights. Don't call on your sword without a good reason though it wouldn't hurt to have a Goron on your side" He finished, before he took a sip of his take away tea,

"Why have I never seen these places?" He asked but Zane sighed,

"Maybe I'm not aloud to say" There was a silence, "Come on, I'll help you pick out a locker"

As Link was being shown around the school and annoying the hell out of Zane asking if every student they past was a Goron or not Zelph was getting very flustered as she realised her being voted for had been a cruel trick, no one had this many issues on day 1. She ducked into an alcove first chance she got to gather her thoughts.

"Zelda?" Dew asked, appearing from seemingly nowhere, making her jump out of her skin,

"Who're you?" She asked, "How do you know who I am?"

"Princess Zelda, year captain, 11th Grade" Dew replied pointing at her badge, "AKA Zelph cause you cool innit?" He added uncooly and not caring one little bit, Zelph was embarrassed beyond words, "You're looking for Link? He's on the 1st floor with his minder, Zane"

"He was his father' Navi wasn't he?" Zelph said in question

He ignored this question and walked away.

When Zelph found Link at first she hid from him, he was in touching distance now but she was afraid to talk to him,

"Is that a Goron?" Link asked, pointing at the large black boy who had commented when he first arrived,

"Yes that's a Goron!" Zane exclaimed a little too loudly,

Both Zane and Zelph turned away in embarrassment when the boy turned around, Link grinned at him,

"Hey! New kid, you got a locker or...?" He asked

"No, they're all taken" Link replied politely

"Come share with me then bud" The boy said

Link went over to him, he was on the other side of the corridor. Link cautiously extended a hand for him to shake but the boy clapped him on the back instead and winded him, making Zelph giggle.

"What's your name?" Link asked as he put the books he wouldn't need into the locker, "I hear the kids round here can get a bit lary, I may need you to stop me from pouncing on them if they try it with me"

"Oh, it's Borack" He grinned, then pointing at the Triforce on Link' hand he said, "Like the tat"

"Oh this is a birthmark, I've always had it" Link said, then he showed him a wolf on his arm, "Wolf Link from Twighlight Princess, my father' friend did it for me for free back home in Japan"

"What was his name?" Borack asked, thrilled to bits to be in Link' presence,

"Warren Swift I think" Link replied

"Awe no way that's my Uncle, small world, nice to meet you bro, wanna hang out with us?" He asked

At this moment Zelph got some courage and marched over to them,

"No sorry he can't, he's with me today; head ordered" She said

Borack looked her up and down,

"Excuse me?"

"I'm having a bad day, I have a list and I've done nothing at all on it" She said getting flustered, "Please let me have this one, I'll be in so much bother if I'm not seen to be at least looking after one new kid"

"Girl you need to take a trip to the spring or something, calm down, have him" Borack said

"Thank you Borack" Link said, then looking at Zelph he added, "What if I said yes to Borack and you tag along for the day?"

"OK" She withered,

Borack fist bumped Link and then walked off with his other Goron friends,

"What's on this list of yours?" He asked kindly when he realised she was about to cry,

"I need to show you around the school" She began,

"Already seen it, Zane took me" He told her, Zelph sighed and he took the list, "What's next? Ah frighten away potental friends, check" She looked at the floor for a second, "You must be astounding with enemies, I might just have to keep you" He grinned, she looked at him and smiled, a little breathless, "Recite the school rules? Why don't I just read and digest them, quicker that way" Link said pretending to eat them before unravelling the list and stroking Zelph' chin, "You are too easy to wnd you up, want some help with this?" He asked

"Yes" She said relieved

At that moment three roughfians came past,

"Hey new kid, find a fat friend to fight your battles for you yet, first thing you're taught?" One said

"I don't need anyone to fight on my behalf" Link said calmly,

Zane gave Link and warning look,

"Really, have you seen these arms?"

"That a challenge?" Link asked

"No it is not!" Zelph snapped, glaring at the roughfian,

"I never back down from a challenge" Link said

"Bring it on!"

"SK Training! Sign up on the board over there and you get to fight him"

They signed up and waked off, laughing about the victory they felt sure was theirs,

"Link!" Zane snapped, "Dew will have my head for this"

"Where is he?" He replied

He'd been listened to by a shy boy with tape on his glasses, the roughians had been picking on just before and as Link and Zelph parted from Zane he looked all around to make sure he wasn't being watched and signed himself up for the SK Training.

Link' first PE lesson that afteroon was a real treat for him. Zelph and Borack were in the same class for one but as Link went into the second of three gyms he saw Dew in a basket ball uniform and it was all he could do not to fall apart with laughter.

"Something wrong Link?" Dew asked

"Excuse me, one moment" Link said backing out the door before laughing so hard his other classmates, Zane, in the staff room opposite, and everyone in the ajoining class rooms had to look up in shock.

Zane came out of the staff room on the left and stared at Link like he had lost his mind,

"What in the world is wrong with you?" He asked as Link tried to calm himself,

Link just pointed and after a peak Zane joined him in falling apart with laughter.

Dew came out and looked at the two of them on the floor, crying,

"Shut! Up!"

Zelph and Borack came out of the room,

"I don't get it, what's so funny?" Zelph asked

This only made Link and Zane laugh even more

"Oh go outside the pare of you" Then to Zelph he added, "He's with you today isn't he? Not doing a very good job of keeping him in line are you young lady, you can go too"

"Man that's savage" Borack said

"You want to join them?" Dew asked

"Nah, I'm good, can I be defence?" He asked

"I am not having a good afternoon" Zelph sighed as they were left alone,

"Let's go into the school gardens" Zane suggested

"What gardens?" Zelph asked in surprise.

Unbeknown to Zelph, there was a walled garden at the far end of the first playing field and it was full of beautiful plants and flowers she had never seen before. She completely lost herself in this place, unaware that she was being smiled at by Link.

"I know that look" Zane said

"Shut up" Link said

"No, you know her" Zane told him, Link looked at him, "You spent time with that Princess when you were kids but the events that took place were so shocking memories had to be wiped, yours included. You were her best friend, you did tease her something shocking, but then she's always been easy to wind up, all the Princesses were" Zane said,

"How many have you known?" Link asked

"All of them. She remembers you but she doesn't remember that year. The year your family moved back to Japan. Because you saved her you were already a hero to her and she always hoped you'd come back one day so when they told her you wouldn't know her she was heartbroken, she may be a little crazy at times but go easy on her please"

"Will I ever remember?" Link asked

"Only if you're meant to" Zane told him

Zelph wandered over to the fountain he and Zane were sitting at, at that moment,

"I'm sorry I don't remember you" Link said honestly

She smiled.

"Why have I never see these gardens until now?" She asked

"The last Hero of Time came here every morning to meditate before class" Zane told her before he was then yelled at by Dew to go with him to his office for a quote on quote chat.

Link pulled a sorry face.

At lunch Link and Zelph found Borak in the canteen.

"This place feels so different to my last school" Link said as he sat down opposite Borack,

"Enchanting, that's what Mumma calls it" Borack said, tucking into a massive burger,

"So, Zelph...where're your friends? Who do you hang out with on a normal day?" Link asked

"I have one, a Zora called; Ruler, she's the swimming captain" Zelph said, then seeing her across the canteen she pointed, "Oh there she is now, hey Ruler!"

Link saw who it was and then looked at Zelph,

"Is she?" He began, before remembering Zane' words, "She looks a little grey round the gils"

Ruler sat down at the table, shivering,

"Hey Zelda" She said rubbing her hands together

"You got flu or something?" Zelph asked

"Don't know but I can't warm up, I was supposed to try out for the diving championship tomorrow and I just got a roasting from the coach and the other girls on the team" Ruler complained, "I was headachy this morning but it's just got worse as the day has gone on, I had to stick my head in a fish tank at break"

Borack spat his drink out all over Zelph.

Link and Ruler looked at her as she sat there in shock,

"Just give up today" Link told her, before giving her a spare shirt to change into. Then he took out a tupperware box with Nana' soup in it and slid it over to Ruler, "You need some of Nanna' soup, go on" He told her

Ruler was a bit dubious but thanked him all the same.

Zelph looked back at Link as she walked off towards the ladies restrooms, tears filling her eyes.

Zelph' day just went from bad to worse, she got stung by a Bee on the nose, tripped into the flowerbed, ripping her trousers, trying to avoid a fight that had broken out outside the school between a human and a Korki, the training was cancelled last minute and then between the car and the front door of the Palace a gardener had been spooked by a dog and sprayed her with the hose until she was ringing wet.

"How was school?" The King asked, then seeing the state Zelph was in he said, "What the hell happened to you?"

Zelph burst into tears,

"This is Link' shirt" She began, "A Goron spat his drink all over me" She sobbed, the King tried not to laugh, "I got stung by a Bee, ended up in a ditch because I was trying to avoid a fight, trianing got cancelled, Link only stuck around because I told him to, he got kicked out for laughing at a teacher so I got kicked out of class to because I was supposed to be looking after him, Ruler caught a cold, I'm probably going to get it too, and the gardener just pelted me with the hose because the dog ran after the cat and now I've ruined Link' shirt"

"I'm sure we can fix Link' shirt" He said eventually,

"It's not about the shirt!" She shouted

Link got a clip around the ear for his antics at school from Nanna but he soon got over that and by supper time he and Mya were asking Nanna all about the Korki, Kokiri, Hyrule and Zoras' Domain and the the Gorons of yesteryear.

Zane sat close by and smiled,

"If I were to sit a map in front of you, of Hyrule and all those other places and a map of the world where would all these places be?"

"Get me a map" Nanna replied. Link did and was surprised by the distances between some places and the closeness of others. Nanna marked them as she talked about them, "Hyrule field is in Japan, it's hidden by a mirror, anyone that's not Hylian or Korki or Goron or Zora would just merge into a mirrored world until they reached the other side of Hyrule, the Lost Woods and Kokiri village are in New Zeland and are attached to Zora' Domain, the Goron village is in Rome and the hidden Cavern of Frost is in Switzerland . Kokiri is the sister land of Irish folk law, Land of eternal Youth. The reason me and your mother grew up is because we left the village" She told them.

Link looked over at Zane,

"There's no way Nanna is as old as the first Hero of Time so how could you have known every Princess in Hyrule and Hi-Range?"

"I'll tell you one day but I am a Korki" Zane told him before retiring to bed

"Nanna" Link said, "Is he my Navi?"

Nanna just smiled.

"Go to bed Link!" Zane called down the stairs.

Link was surprised to find that Zelph wasn't there the next morning as he ventured into the sports hall to take on the roughians from the previous day. His new friend Borack was acting as security, which amused Link.

Borack saw him and went to slap his back but Link was ready for him this time and held out a shield he had fashioned for himself.

"Damn!" Borack exclaimed, "You're strong Link"

"Link!?" The instructor said in question as he passed him, "No relation to Senior?"

"Senior was my dad, he passed away last week" Link told him

"I am sorry to here that, but may I say for our sake I hope you have his spirit in the sword too, he was the best" The instructor said

Link nodded,

"Hey, I'm sorry for your loss, you still got Mumma though right?" Borack asked, Link shook his head, "Oh man"

"It's alright, where' Zelda this morning?" Link asked

"She caved" A roughian said as he passed, "As will you"

"Want me to sit on him for you?" Borack asked

"No, I got this" Link said

With a nod at the instructor and a nod at the roughians he walked the first into the ring and made light work of him. Borack grinned and nodded at the instructor and then Zane as Zane joined the class with the shy boy. Two more roughians went for Link this time, against the instructor' demands but Link made quick work of these two as well. In fact out of a class of 30 there were just 5 that gave Link any real trouble but these treated Link with the upmost respect.

"In Zelda' absence may I suggest those 5 boys go through to the next stage of training to be concidered by the King?" Borack asked

"Very well, I think that's it for today" The instructor said

"No" Link said, then nodding at the shy boy he said, "He's next"

"I...I can wait" The boy said

"What's your name?" Link asked

"Colin" He replied

"Take sword in hand and meet me in the ring" Link told him

"I don't actually have a sword, dad won't let me" Colin told him

He was laughed at by all but the Gorons, Link, the istructor and Zane,

"Take mine, the quiet ones have the most promise" Link said handing him his sword,

There were gasps all round.

Borack gave Link his own sword.

Link went easy on Colin until he could see that Colin was getting used to the sword, they just did some parrying, this made several people smile. The roughians didn't give him any credit but then he didn't expect them too.

As everyone filed out Link held back to talk to Colin,

"Why do you want to be a knight?" He asked

"No one in my family have ever had the honour of serving the Hylian Royal family or Hi-Range as they're known here and I wanted to, I just want to be able to say I got in. I'm not brave" Colin said

"To want that honour and to go for that goal is brave Colin, you've got a way to go but if I get you in you've got to put the work in. That means I want you training in here every day" Link said

"I promise" Colin smiled

Link left to catch up with Borack, who he then took asside and led off the school property.

"Uh Link! Where are you two going?" Zane called

"To get Zelda to stop hiding away!" Link called back

"Hang on, I'll come with you, I'd sooner be yelled at by the King of Hi-Rage than Dew" He called, then once he'd caught up he said, "We can go in the car"

At that moment there was a tremmor and all the drain covers for about a mile blew off,

"Uh, are you sure about that?" Link asked him

"Dew!?" Zane called out,

Link and Borack covered their ears for Zane' voice was like a sonic now and made them dizzy. A creature came out of the drain, it was like a giant cockroach, 4 feet from top to tail.

"Zane, my sword!" Link said

"I'll handle that thing!" Dew called from the front entrance to the school, and he tossed a boomerang at it twice until it blew up into a puff of purple smoke before clapping his hands and wiping the memories of all but Zane, Link and Borack.

"What was that thing?" Borack asked as Dew joined them

"A Hissing Pug, it's a stone engraving. One of the Shanklin' gimmicks, those things have sensors" Dew told him

"They have spies everywhere, they're looking for me" Link summerised, "The tremmor in Japan, that was them too"

"Yes, why're you out here?" He asked

"Zelda never turned up to school, I was going to find her" Link told him honestly

"I'll come with you then, I need to update the King anyway" Dew said

"Woe, wait, you're not telling me off for leaving school?" Link asked

"Not today Link"

Borack was stunned by the sight of the Palace, Link had a different feeling, one of familiarity. They had to walk through a walled village and a maze of gloriously green hedges with roses in them to get to the golden gates.

"I...I know this place" Link said

He had a flash back of playing by a fountain at the front with the Princess and being watched by his laughing mother.

"Link" Zane called, "Are you alright?"

"I had an image flash through my mind just now, I was here but it looked a little different, there was a fountain there in the centre" He said

Then another flashback hit him of a fountain exploding and him and Zelda being captured by a pig like creature but this he kept to himself.

Dew and Zane led Borack and Link into the Palace. Dew went one way and Zane went to find Imray, who would be taking Li and Borack to where Zelph was hiding.

Zelph was sat with her back to her bedroom door, wearing pink pyjamas and crying over ice cream, her hair a disaster area.

"She's been like this since last night" Imray told Link and Borack,

Zane rolled his eyes,

"Leave this to me" Link said before knocking on the door, "Zelda!"

"Go away, I'm not going back there, I've been humiliated enough!" She snapped from the other side of the door

"I don't have time for first world problems today, we have real problems to deal with you and I, now come on" Link called

"They don't like me, they only made me year captain to torcher me and laugh at my shortcomings" She cried,

Borack, Link and Zane pulled sympathetic faces and Link shooed them all away.

"Come on Zelda, who cares what they think? I need you" He said

"I'm not coming out" Zelph said

"Oh we're really playing this game" He replied, "Alright, I'm just going to have to climb in through the window"

"But Link!" She called, now worried and standing up, "We're three floors high! Link! You're joking right? Link?"

Link was already down the stairs and out the front door.

"No luck?" Borack asked

"Can Gorans really do that lift trick?" He asked him, rolling up his sleeves

"You are crazy Link, but alright" Borack replied

So Borack got down into a ball shape and Link got onto his back and when he was ready Borack fired Link up into the air, his cries of fright brought the King and Dew to the window.

Zane could hardly look but thankfully Link got a grip on Zelph' window and after some effort had climbed through it.

"No need for me to ask who that is" The King whined

Borack laughed and high fived Zane.

"Zane! Up here now!" Dew yelled

"What were you thinking!? What...?" Zelph yelled before grabbing Link for a hug, she held on to him for a little while but he didn't reject her, "I'm sorry Link"

"We were attacked by a Hissing Pug at the school, Dew delt with it but I think he's talking to your father about bringing our training forward and maybe even sending us to round up the minerals and the scroll" Link told her

"Oh my God...oh my God Ruler, her competition, I'm so selfish, we still have time, we can still support her and then worry about Shaklin" Zelph said

"Oh sure we could do that first or we could save the world" Link said

"I'm scared Link, I need to hear her say it's OK first" Zelph said

"What about if I told you?" Link asked her

They stared at each other for a minute until they were hit by a tremmor and a guard called out,

"This one is huge! It knows. It's headed for the school! The Portal is innactive, they're blocking it!"

Soon Zelph, Link, Borack and Zane were charging towards one of several helicopters,

"Time to prove your worth Link!" Dew called as they took off

They could see water bursting out of pipes all along the road as they flew overhead.

"He's a water creature!" Zelph cried

"We're quicker than he is" Link said, "Borack, gather rocks, big rocks and throw them at him as a distraction until I can get my sword, Zelda, find Ruler, stop her from taking that dive!"

Link and Zelph were dropped off at the school and the helicopter took off again towards a quarry so Borack could get what he needed.

"I have an idea, there's a massive canvas covering over the pool at the moment isn't there?" Link said as they hurried along the pathway between the main building and the sports hall.

"Yes, it's for the late summer weather" Zelph replied simply

Link nodded.

Ruler was climbing to the top of the diving board as Zelph stepped out into the pool area, everyone was oblivious to the danger they were now in.

"Ruler!" Zelph called, "You need to get down from there!"

Ruler couldn't hear.

Round at the front entrance to the school Borack had just arrived back with a helicopter full of large rocks, he slammed down to get other Gorons to come and help, explained what was going on and what they needed to do.

Each Goron took a conciderable number of rocks each and headed for the pool area in anticipation,

"Borack, I'm going to need another lift" Link told him as he saw him.

"You got it" Borack said

Zelph was climbing up after Ruler, who was now looking back over her shoulder, sure Zelph had lost the plot,

"Don't dive!"

"I feel fine now, that soup was awesome, go back down you weirdo!" Ruler called back

The people not watching this were stunned when Link was given a Goron lift up through the ropes holding the canvas above the pool and onto the side of one of the buildings they were attached to, where he lay in wait.

He didn't have long either, just as Zelph caught up with Ruler the creature broke out form the bottom of the pool and snapped it's jaws at Ruler.

Ruler screamed, Zelph pulled her back and they fell with a cry, then looked up as the creature was being pelted with rocks by Gorons.

Link ran across to the centre of the canvas and looked around. He sighed with relief when Zane appeared from nowhere,

"Want some help?" He asked

"Yes!" Link gasped

"Spin with the sword out and I'll slice the rope" Zane told him.

Link didn't understand but he nooded anyway. Zane blew into a whistle and made it float in the air before backing up and running across the ropes, light left the whistle and focused on each rope Zane stood on, then once he had them all Link did a spin attack with his sword and all the ropes were cut,

Link dived down with the canvase and embedded his sword beneath him as it trapped the creature. There were many screams of shock and terror but it worked. The creature exploded into purple gas, just as the Hissing Pug had.

Link dropped into the pool and swam to meet Borack, who helped him out. Someone else retrieved his sword. The King and Dew were waiting for him. Ruler was in a daze and Zelph was smiling.

"How you gonna erase that from their mind?" Borack asked

"You have done well Link" The King said as everyone bowed their heads

"I had help" Link said modestly, then to Zane as he appeared to Link' side he said, "You were amazing"

Suddenly his eyes widened.

"What is it?" Zelph asked

"My sister!" Link cried before darting off

As Link got to the sports field of the Middle School where Mya was playing with her new friends all hell broke loose,

"Mya!" He called, running down the steps towards her with care,

Zelph was with him, as was Zane.

"Link!" Mya called out with a grin and a wave but then as he reached the last step a pig like creature apeared on the ground behind her and kidnapped her, "Link!" She screamed

"Mya!" Link yelled, running towards the creature with his sword.

This creature tossed Link down the field and rendered him unconscious.

"Link!" Zelph yelled but Zane wouldn't let her accompany him as he tended to him and the pig like creature disappeared with Mya.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

 **The Forefathers and Kokiri**

Link woke up on the sofa in his living room, a worried Nanna at the head of it and Zelph and Zane by the door. It was Zelph who first noticed,

"He's waking up!" She exclaimed

"Link?" Nanna said in question as he winced and groaned in pain, "Oh you're alright!" Then to Zane she exclaimed, "He's OK!"

"I wouldn't go right to OK" Zane said, going over to him

"Could you go and get some soup for Link?" Nanna asked Zelph, Zelph nodded, "Thank you...Zelph"

Zelph grinned and rushed off to get Link some soup.

"These are for you Link, you're going to need them, they've been worn by every Hero of Time since Hyrule was created" Zane said proudly, presenting Link with a tissue paper parcel.

Link' heart skipped as he uravelled the hero' outfit, still not daring to believe that hero was him.

He coughed a little at the attire,

"When were these washed last?" He asked, Nanna clapped him round the head for his cheek, "Ouch, Nanna I'm in enough pain"

Zelph came back in at this moment with the soup and laughed a little.

"There's a belt and boots too. You've all weighed the same and reached the same height by this stage, it really is uncanny" Zane told him

Zelph sat down beside Link and with some effort he took the soup from her and drank it until his wounds were healed before their eyes. Zelph was stunned to see this.

"It's Kokiri magic" Nanna told her, "You'll need that outfit to get into the Kokiri village" She added to Link

"I know why you call yourself Zelph" Link said to Zelph with a grin

Zelph stood up, turning bright red,

"No you don't" She said

"Korki and Kokiri are elves, I'm half Korki half Hylian, it's a tribute to me" He said, thoroughly amused by Zelph' discomfort,

"Oh put your ego away Link!" She snapped huffily

"I saved you" Link said

Zelph turned around to look at him hopefully and Nanna stared at him in shock.

"Link, do you remember something?" Nanna asked

"Yes, I had a flash back after that pig thing batted me across the field like a rounders ball" Link told them. "I've seen that pig before, it's the one that kidnapped Zelda and me when we were kids, it destroyed the fountain outside her house" He continued

"It did!" Zane exclaimed

"The sword I have won't work on him, I'll need something else...he looks a little dumb" Link said, "I think he thought Mya was Zelda"

"Oh don't!" Zelph exclaimed

"What do we do now?" Link asked Zane

"I suppose we should head for the Lost Woods but you'll need the Master Sword, the Portals can't be activated until you're at the individual area" Zane said

"I'll book the flights to New Zeland then" Nanna said

"I'm not going anywhwere without my light arrows" Zelph told them

"Dew put them in the training ring, the King OK'd it" Zane told her.

Link was relcutant at first to change into the hero' outfit but once it was all on and he had the belt, the boots, the satchel and the sword in it's scabbard clipped to his back he felt pretty awesome.

"Wow" Zelph said as he came down the stairs.

Zane beamed proudly.

"I love this moment, how do you feel?" Zane asked

"Honestly, I feel awesome" Link said but then his face dropped a little, "But honestly unworthy of the title Hero of Time, I don't see how this outfit is going to make any difference"

"As each hero dies they leave a piece of themselves within the clothes of the hero, another in the sword, like a stamp, you will find yourself on this journey Link and add to it's power. As you go and learn you will feel the added strength that comes from wearing that outfit and weilding the Hero' Sword" Nanna told him proudly.

"Where's my hat or sheild?" Link asked

"The King keeps them at each passing of a hero until the next needs it and is ready to take on what is asked of him" Zane told him

"So I have to prove myself by obtaining the Master Sword first before he'll accept that I am the next Link, the Link of his world" Link summerised

"Indeed" Zane replied with a nod

Soon Link and Zelph were standing in a gold rimmed marble circle in the centre of a bandstand in the garden, and dotted around in the ground were sparkling glass domes.

This bandstand was gaurded by two Knuckle Knights statues.

The King, Zane and Dew were standing before them and a plynth, on which was a sunken handprint.

"I can't go into that place with you Link, I'm sorry" Zane called

Link nodded and the King placed his hand on the plynth until Link and Zelph sunk into the Training ring and the two Knuckle Knights crossed swords, electrifying the bandstand to stop Zane, Dew and the King going in to help.

"These are the youngest to fight since the first Hero of Time" Zane fretted

"Perhaps that is a good thing" Dew commented

"No turning back now" Zelph said as they stopped descending,

"Nope" Link agreed. A wall lowered and Link and Zelph were faced with two metal gaurds that had eyes in their backs, "Oh I know these guys...we don't have any bombs"

"They might have some" Zelph said, nodding at the dead knights scattered across the room

"That one at the far end has a bow" Link said, nodding at one knight in particular, "If we're quiet enough maybe we can use what's left of the them and the bombs to get rid of these guys" He added

Zelph agreed and she and Link started side stepping around the room. As Link got to a knight and was searching his satchel for bombs the guards came to life. Link got out of the way, just in time and somehow managed to keep the bombs he now had intact. Zelph screamed and they went after her so Link threw some rocks lying around the room at them to get them to go after him instead. This worked and Zelph was able to get her hands on some arrows and a bow, which she quickly used to shoot the eyes in the back so Link could use the bombs.

This worked and a green rimmed door opened, it let Link through but not Zelph. Zelph was confused,

"Stop messing about Zelda. Get in here" Link called

"I'm not, the door shut, I can't get through" Zelph called back, she turned when a pink rimmed door opened on the other side of the room, "Another door just opened, maybe we have to go two ways!"

"Be careful!" Link called but Zelph was already in the next room.

Zelph found a small ledge and a barless square bridge to a locked door on the other side of the room. She looked around for a key and found a skeleton in an area of the room she had no hope of getting to, she then looked at all the walls until she found a number of eyes she could shoot arrows into. One left, one right and one directly ahead.

Zelph took out the eye directly ahead of her and a gaint spider dropped down from the ceiling, big enough to break the barless bridge in the centre.

"Oh my God!" Zelph yelped, before shooting the soft spot on it's back with an arrow, though it did take a few goes what with it thrashing about in the water like it was, "So not that one" Zelph now took out the eye on the left wall and this froze the water. Zelph thought this was brilliant and easy but then she lowered herself onto the frozen water and slipped and slid and landed on her butt and then her side and then her front and it only got worse when she reached the skeleton with the key in it's hand. The skeleton was frozen too. Zelph managed to get onto a ledge and grabbed a stick from out of a fancy jar. She took it over to the skelton and thrashed the stick around, only for the stick to freeze, "Bother!" She exclaimed before foolishly taking out the third eye on the right wall so the ice thawed and into the water she dived.

It took a few moments for her to right herself and get out of the water, back onto the ledge.

Zelph took a breath and then looked carefully at the skeleton, she then kicked it and yanked at it until it came away from the wall to reveal blocks she could stand on. She had to stand in the same position as the skeleton before the key would just port from the skeleton' hand, into hers.

Now Zelph had to figure out how to get up to the locked door. She looked all around the room on receiving the key, and then up onto the ceiling where she found a 4th eye,

She lowered herself back down onto the ledge below and took out the eye on the ceiling, this caused several bricks to move out of the wall on the other side, that would allow her to get to the locked door.

She swam across to the opposite wall and used the blocks to get to the locked door. She turned back around for a second before venturing into the next room, feeling very proud of herself.

Beyond the door was a small space and in the middle sat her bow and light arrows in a glass cabinet.

She took them but then the room shook, her way out was blocked by flames, several eyes appeared all over the wall and a voice rang out, telling her to find the eye of truth. She paid close attention to the decorations on each eye rim, all but one had a decoration, she took her time as she aimed but this cost her because if an eye with a partner spotted her it shot a beam her way. The sound would alert her and she could dodge, though she did scream at a few near misses. Eventually and with a whimper she took a pot shot with a light arrow and destroyed all the eyes at once.

The flames went out and she was able to get out of the training ring.

She took the largest breath, grateful to be outside again. She was then greeted by her proud father, who she hugged with reluctance,

"Come on" He said

"I would't have had to go through all that if you'd told Dew to leave my arrows in the attic like a normal person" She retorted, "How's Link doing?" She then asked

Link was having a hell of a time with the Beamos. He was trying to find a place to stand that wouldn't get him hit by one of the beams.

After darting, ducking and rolling across the room Link got hold of a shield from one of five dead knights and used it to reflect the beam from the Beamos in the corner. Once he had this rendered useless he used the shield to bat back the beams from the other Beamos in the room but the bars blocking his exit wouldn't fall.

Link placed a bomb at the foot of each statue and embedded his sword in a bubble switch in the centre of the room, which set them all off, destroying the Beamos and breaking the bars blocking his path.

Link ventured into the next room, where sat the Master Sword.

The sight literally took his breath away. He had no words to describe the feeling coming from the blade, it was polished, it was...alive!

"Step this way Link" It said

"Father?!" Link exclaimed in question, confused

"I am one of many. Our souls will guide you and our light will aid you on your journey ahead, through woods, under seas, over mountains and underground before your final task with the Shanklin leader and quite possibly Canon himself"

"Thank you for putting my mind at ease" Link said sarcastically, "I feel so much better now"

"You have my lip kid, take sword in hand and let us test the four techniques I taught you in secret" The voice from the sword said,

"Sure, we could do that...if you weren't dead already!" Link retorted. He took the sword from it's stand and immeditately felt dizzy, the room spun until he was in a white field with Hyrule Castle in the distance and was surrounded by four Link' from the past. His father, his Grandfather, his Great Grandfather and his Great, Great Grandfather, "Oh boy"

"Don't worry boy, we won't all come at you at once, it's not in your best interests or anyone elses if we just knock you into the middle of next week, you will take us on one at a time with a technique your father taught you before his passing" His Great Grandfather told him.

Link relaxed a little.

They all altered in appearance until they appeared as they were at the prime of their lives.

The first challenger was Link' father, he stepped forward and the other three stepped back. Link and his father crossed blades for a second and bowed to each other.

"The first technique was the ending blow" His father said, "Come now son don't look so worried I'm dead already what will it do to me huh? Come at me now"

Link was emotional but did as he was told and faught with his father' ghost until he was on the floor before jumping into the air and driving the sword down through his middle with a cry. He then stood back and his father simply got up and stood back too so Link could retrieve his sword from the white grass.

"Very good" Link' Grandfather said. He stepped forward and Link' father stepped back further, "Sheild attack"

Link batted his Grandfather with the sheild to knock him off course before using the sword to jab him off his feet. Again, as he was a ghost it didn't really hurt him, he had a force around him so he could be pushed or jabbed.

The next challenger was his Great Gradfather.

"Spin attack" He said to Link,

Link nodded and did a spin attack but what he didn't expect was for his Great Grandfather to turn into a skeleton in part; head and torso parted from pelvis. Link was horrified as one half circled to find the other that was hopping around.

"Oh my God, I am so sorry!" Link exclaimed, full of remorse

"Happens all the time" His Great Grandfather told him as he put himself back together

Link' father burst out laughing.

Link looked at his Great, Great Grandfather now, he had a missing eye,

"What happened to you?" Link asked

"Same thing that happened to Shade" He replied, "Do you remember the battle of 1066?"

"Not personally, no" Link replied

"Oh Lord!" His Great Great Grandfather exclaimed, "Try the target attack"

"Focus training" Link said

"Yes Link but this time your mark will work for you, raise your hand to scan your target for weak points and then use your sword or whatever you have on you when the time comes to utilise it" His father told him.

Link nodded in understanding and held the back of his hand up to his Great Great Gradfather, six weak points appeared, his wrists, his shoulders and his shins,

"Woe, this is all kinds of awesome and supper weird at the same time" Link said before using his sword to render this last ghost Link uselsess.

"That is enough for now, you may meet more down the path" Link' father told him,

"Don't go!" Link begged as he was ported back to the last room he was in.

He knelt, sword straight before him, both hands on the handle and head bowed, sobbing,

"I will never leave you, Link" The sword' voice whispered

Zelph was worried for Link as he stepped out of the training ring, his face tear stained; but then she saw ths Master Sword and as he placed it in the new scabbard on his back she hugged him. He hugged her back and cried.

"You saw him didn't you?" Zane said in question, tears welling

"Heros don't cry" The King said as Link and Zelph parted

"Well this one dose" Link told him, "The best ones do"

"Let's go and get your sister back" Zane said

"And maybe save the world while we're at it huh?" Zelph smiled

The King presented Link with his hat and the Hyrule Shield,

"My daughter is in your care now Link, take good care of her you hear?" He said

Link bowed with respect.

Link and Nanna were stunned by Zelph while on the plane to New Zealand when they hit an air pocket, plunged 100 feet and she started laughing hysterically.

Link just burst out laughing with her then out of shock, which set off Nanna and Zane and a few of the other passengers nearby. Then one by one they all fell asleep, accept for Link, he was worrying about his little sister and missing his parents.

The quiet was unnerving him so he was grateful when Zelph woke up from a bad dream.

"A bird was attacking the plane" She said

"Don't say that too loudly" Link told her,

"You're thinking about your sister?" Zelph asked

"Yeah, she's only 11, we hadn't yet taught her defence, you just assume when you're young that your parents will always be there, you take them for granted and then one day, bang, they're gone" Nanna woke up to listen, "I took them for granted, I won't take Nanna for granted"

"Link, their death wasn't because of anything you didn't say or do" Zelph said

"Doesn't mean I don't think it, maybe if I hadn't denyed what I was I could have sensed something sooner, I could have stopped it from happening, what if I can't save Mya?" Link said dispairingly

"You can't think like that, Mya will be OK" Zelph told him, "Big brother' got her back and I have yours"

Link smiled.

"Thank you"

Link, Zelph, Nanna and Zane were met by a rather eccentric old fellow in tight green trousers and white and green striped shirt. Where his buttons should be were green leaves and he had a hat not too disimilar to Link'.

"Nanna, is that you? Are my eyes playing tricks?!" He cried happily to Nanna

"Do I know you?" She asked

"Why...it's me, Skit!" He exclaimed proudly

"You left the village?" Nanna said in question, confused

"Well yes! To find you, we thought something terrible had happened to you, you were like our mother and you just left us" Skit told her

"Oh Skit" Nanna gushed guiltily

"Oh life wasn't that bad, I married a nice fairy called; Tulip, she took pity on me and blew herself up"

"Oh my God!" Link exclaimed

"I mean she grew to me size" Skit explained

"How did you know we were coming?" Zane asked

"Come on Zane, we're right next to the Zoras, they heard about the attack at the school, we knew it was only a matter of time before you found Link and sent him our way. Nanna had to come home one day" Skit said happily, then looking at Link he said, "You're Link aren't you? It's so nice to meet you"

"You too" Link told him, "This is Zelph" He added, putting a hand on Zelph' shoulder that made her shiver,

"Have you a connection to Hylian? If not you won't past the gates of the Lost Woods" He told her

"I'm Princess Zelda of the Hylian and Hi-Range Royal family, will that do?" She asked

"All I heard was Hylian so you're safe" Skit said, making Link laugh

"I like this guy" Link said to Zane as they jumped into the cutest vintage car he'd ever seen,

"Skit, you do remember the way back to Kokiri don't you?" Nanna asked cautiously

He humphed and off they went,

Skit just drove across 6 lanes of traffic without hitting a car, into the forest on the other side,

Link and Zelph were stunned,

"Woe!" Link exclaimed

After a little drive Skit stopped at a wodden bridge with a tunnel carlved into a huge fallen tree on the other side of it.

"Can't drive any further than here, but don't worry this bridge is perfectly safe" Skit told them as they all got out of the car.

Skit enjoyed Nanna and Zane' reactions to being back in the forest they were born in.

"How do the Kokiri...where do they come from?" Link asked delicately

"From pollen in the enchanted woods or Lost Woods as we call them, if you don't know where you want to be you'll just end up back in the same place or back here at the bridge into Kokiri" Zane told him,

"We're children forever unless we chose to leave" Nanna explained

"Why do some leave and others don't?" Zelph asked

"Someone has to make a wish, the wish that we are real and if the urge is great enough some of the children will leave the forest and go out into the world, to see things from their eyes. Every now and then those lives were unhappy ones and the children that left turned into black eyed beings or Skull Kids, they wanted to play but were mistreated and came back to the forest but tainted by experiences in the human world they could never come back to live in harmony with the Kokiri. The lucky ones could come back whenever they liked for a visit though and moved to Korki" Skit told Zelph

Link shivered,

"And we're going into those woods?"

Skit smiled and led Link, Zelph, Nanna and Zane across the bridge, through the tunnel and into Kokiri Village, where they were immediatley surrounded by the Kokiri. Little kids with green hair and bright eyes.

Link was enchanted but Zelph was little creeped out at first.

Kokiri was a villiage made up of tiny tree houses dotted all over and mini thatched houses for the Kokiri afraid of heights. There was a stream and a lake to fish in and a watermill and farmland off to the far left.

"Look who's back everyone, it's Zane and Nanna!" Skit said

The excited Kokiri went around both Zane and Nanna to inspect them before one cheeky Kokiri looked Skit up and down and said,

"Time has not been kind to you Skit!"

"Oi! Be quiet Skull Kid!" Skit retored,

This cheeky Kokiri' lip quivered and he yelled across to the beefy child, who was clearly the leader now,

"Skit' been gone 60 years and he had the cheek to call me a Skull Kid!"

"Maybe you were acting like one" The leader said, shutting the him up. He made his way over to everyone and looked at Link, "Link?" Link nodded and smiled. The leader hugged Link, "You'll save us won't you Link?"

"What's been happening here?" He asked

"Wait a second!" The cheeky Kokiri interupted, "Nanna leaves and looks like that, Zane leaves and looks like that, Link leaves and gets younger but Skit leaves and he's ancient!" Skit humphed and stomped his foot, "Just saying that world out there is weird!"

"I could still out-run you!" He snapped

"Prove it Granddad!" The Kokiri retorted,

"Stop it the pair of you! No one is racing anyone until that monster in the shrine, blowing purple fog down this way every night and leaving Kokiri biting fly traps everywhere has been dealt with!" The leader cried, then to Link he added, "We're sure he has a Kokiri in there too, we can hear her crying at night"

This upset Link.

"Thats my little sister; take us to the Lost Wood's entrance" He said

"You'll need a few supplies first Link" Zane said, "There's a shop over there" He told him

Zelph and Link followed Zane and another Kokiri into a tiny thatched house and up to a counter. There were shelves behind it and a serious looking Kokiri.

Nanna stayed with the leader and the other Kokiri'.

Zelph, Link and Zane had to sit on the leafy floor because the ceiling was too low for them.

On the shelf was a sling shot, some pips and a bag of jelly hearts,

"Ooh slingshot, oh I've got to get one of those!" Zelph said

"You'll need some pips too, handy for stunning Shanklin Mineral critters" Zane told them, "And some jelly hearts please" Then as the Kokiri behind the counter got all these things for them he told Link, "You'll need these out there, you can't take the soup into the Lost Woods"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

 **The Lost Woods and the Forest Shrine**

Link, Zelph and Zane were left at the entrance to the Lost Woods by the Kokiri leader, Nanna and Skit. To get to it they had to climb a ledge and then up onto the roof of a two storey Kokiri house. The leader wished them luck, as did Nanna and Skit as they venutred into the woods.

They were immediately confused, for all the fallen tree tunnels looked the same.

"How on Earth are we going to find our way through this?" Zelph asked in disbelief

"There's a clearing in the centre of the Lost Woods" Zane told them, "If we can make it there the Sword will be in range of the Shrine, it should in theory still lead us, even if it is infested"

"Alright" Link said, "In that case we need to follow our ears"

"For what?" Zelph asked

"The water. There is an underwater stream that flows out of this wood and into Kokiri village, if there is a lake in the centre of this wood then it's supply is coming from Zoras' Domain. All we have to do is follow our ears to the sound of running water" Link told her

"Oh!" Zelph exclaimed, "That's brilliant"

They did this with some success until a Skull Kid jumped out at them and stole Link' sword.

"Give that back right now!" Link ordered

"Link play first!" The Skull Kid said

"Link no play!" Link snapped, "Without sword" He added

Zane and Zelph frowned at Link as the Skull Kid studied him,

"You not friend now Link?" Skull Kid asked "Link friend, I help Link last time to Shrine, by accident sure but Link like me then, Link told me "Be good Skull Kid" so I good Skull Kid, I take Link' sword when see Link, Link want to go back to Shrine, Link no remember Skull Kid? Skull Kid sad now"

Link knelt down, studdied him and then smiled,

"Sure!" Link said, "Link still friend and I am Link but I'm not your Link, I'm Link' Link, Skull Kid understand?"

"Oh, Link had a Link to help Kokiri when my Link too old to be Link yes?" Skull Kid asked with a creepy smile.

Link nodded,

"Something like that"

"Link' not dead is he?" Skull Kid asked, "Skull Kid very sad if that's true"

"Link, Link is sleeping in that sword, we need a few Link' if we're going to stop Shanklin reviving Canon and yes sadly if he's successful then Canon too" Link told the Skull Kid. Skull Kid studdied the sword, "So will you help Link' Link?"

Zelph shook her head, all she could hear was a creepy whining sound coming from the Skull Kid, that Link then responded too like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Are you following any of this conversation?" She asked Zane eventually,

Zane just laughed,

"Link is part Korki so it makes sense that he'd be able to speak to a Skull Kid"

"Hello?" Skull Kid said to the sword, "Link, Link? Are you there?"

"Give Link back his sword Skull Kid!" Came the voice of the Sword,

Skull Kid and Zelph screamed,

Skull Kid dropped the sword,

"Skull Kid very sorry!" Skull Kid spluttered, "Skull Kid will take Link to Shrine if Link, Link not angry with Skull Kid and Link play game with Skull Kid"

"Link, Link love Skull Kid, Skull Kid helped Link, Link save the world, Skull Kid can do it again" Came the voice of the sword.

"Uh huh!" Skull Kid exclaimed before darting off ahead of Link, Zelph and Zane

"Where did he go?" Link asked, picking up his sword

They heard a creepy party whistle at the top of some rocks nearby and climbed them to get to where the Skull Kid was waiting for them.

The Skull Kid laughed and jumped down into another section of the Lost Woods, where he was attacked by Bug Pug'. Link jumped down and delt with them as the Skull Kid cowered in the corner by a tree stump.

Link waited and helped Zane and Zelph down from the above ledge as Skull Kid darted off again.

Link, Zane and Zelph chased the sound of the party whistle all throughout the woods until finally spying the Skull Kid at the top of another ledge.

At the top of this ledge, Link, Zelph and Zane could see the centre of the Lost Woods but Skill Kid was too scared to go down or even across as there were four minies pig like creatures patrolling a camp fire.

"I can get across that" Link said confidently but half way across the minie pig like creatures caught sight of him and fired arrows at him to knock him off balance and he fell into the area below, "Maybe not"

Luckily for him this was a wood made for children so the fall wasn't that big of a deal for Link. It winded him a little though.

The trees atop of each area blocked any view of Kokiri village or a Shrine of any kind.

Link got up and started attacking the minie pig like creatures but as soon as one blew up another two appeared,

"Link! You have to get them all at once!" Zane called, before blowing into his whistle and tossing it down to Link.

Link only now realised the whistle had a face, Zane' face,

"Holey cow!" Link said distracted, a minnie pig like creature got him in the leg, "Ouch! What do I do!?" He called,

"Run rings around them!" Zane called back

Link did and realised there were now lights around their feet and not only that but they were now trapped.

Link did a spin attack from the centre and they all blew up into purple smoke at once.

Link fell back, exhausted.

Zane, Zelph and the Skull Kid climbed down to join him,

"That was just a minie pig, it'll be a while yet before you can take on Shanklin' leader" Zane told him seriously, giving Link a jelly heart.

Link took this and instantly felt better,

"Link strong enough for Skull Kid! Skull Kid proud!" Skull Kid said, "Link OK now? Skull Kid worried"

"I'm fine" Link said with a smile

"Good! Skull Kid no like waiting around!" Skull Kid said before darting off again.

Link, Zelph and Zane had to be quick to catch up with the Skull Kid but eventually they found themselves in an adult sized clearing with rocks and steps, broken in places, going up three walls.

"Woe!" Zelph and Link exclaimed at the same time

"Skull Kid no welcome here, this was once the Temple of Time"

"Before Demise and then his decsendant Ganondolf and his decendant Calamity Ganon, this was the central point for the power of the Gods, with the Forest Shrine to the North, Hylia Shrine to the East, Goron City to the South and Snow Peak Mountains to the West, the shrine of which sits deep underground and above it Hyrule. Then known as Sky Loft.

When that decsended from the skys after the statue it destroyed this temple and the King of Hyrule used the portals of all four Shrines to split Hyrule and hide three of the four shrines in the hope that even if that beast was broken out of his seal again they'd have the time they needed to retrieve the power of the minerals and protect the scroll" Zane told them

"Skull Kid go no further" Skull Kid said "Skull Kid given permission to help Link so don't fry me OK!?" He called to three statues gauarding the walls,

To Skull Kid' surprise he got a hug from Link, which made him cry with happiness .

He screamed and tried to run when the statues lit up but was surprised when they caught him and broke his curse, turning him back into a Kokiri. Link grinned as he jumped up and down with Zane, excited.

"Go forth Link of our Time, the Gods shine on you and your Princess" Came the voices of the statues

It took some doing to get up and over the wall to the North where this enormous Forest Shrine sat in an overgrown bowl.

It was crumbling in places and had black smoke billowing out the top of diamond shaped chimneys on the rooves of two points of the Shrine.

"My little sister's in that?" Link said in question, shrinking inside,

"Hey look, if we go in there thinking we can't instead of we can then we'll all be dead" Zelph said, "Now I may not have a lot of confidence in a lot of things but I'm not going to let this place beat me and neither are you, let's do this!"

Link smiled and nodded.

They looked all around to find a route into the Shrine. There were three eyes guarding the door but every time Zelph fired an arrow or Link jabbed his sword at them the eyes closed.

"Son of a...Skyward Sword!" Link exclaimed before jumping up onto a nearby ledge, "Get back!" He called to Zelph and Zane before holding out his sword. It glowed and the eyes were drawn to this. Following the game he moved the sword in circular motions until the eyes got dizzy, the eyeballs exploded into puffs of smoke and the lids dropped off so the doors into the Shrine could open for them.

"I'll go in ahead and try and find your sister!" Zane said, darting into the Shrine.

Link and Zelph nodded at each other and ventured into the Shrine after.

Zane squeezed through an almost impossible tunnel, out into the main part of the Shrine, this was roofless. It had three floors with only ledges outside the doors and at present no way of reaching them. On the top floor there was an enclosed bridge with arches going right across the middle of the space, left to right and a chandelier suspended from the centre of it,

Zane put his hands and his ears to the locked door on the right of him, then closed his eyes. Through three rooms his vision took him until he found Mya locked in a cage, hugging her Link doll for comfort,

"Hang on in there Mya, Link' coming for you!" Zane called as he opened his eyes. Zane was shocked back into a pool of water by a pig like creature standing behind the first door. The creature having jabbed an electrified rod through a keyhole. Zane shook his head as he surfaced and swam over to a vine on the wall, "I'll just have to find another way in"

Meanwhile Link and Zelph were round at the entrance, staring at the tiny tunnel in disbelief.

"Oh there is no way Zane crawled through there" Link was saying,

"Clearly he did" Zelph said, then pointing to the rubble ahead she added, "Becasue no one could get through there"

"We can't get through there" Link said, pointing at the tunnel until Zelph coughed and Link got down on all fours, and squeezed into the tunnel, "Alright but if we get stuck I'm blaming you"

By the time Link and Zelph had reached the other side Zane was in the next room up from the one with the locked door and was sneaking across ropes, holding flags and slipping across mossy boulders. He was spotted at one point but despite the screeching made by the pig like cretures these ones had no arrows so they coudn't get to him.

Zane grinned and made himself fairy sized, stuck himself to the wall, sidling across to a thin gap between that and the door to the next room before simply slidling down through the gap.

In the next room Zane was able to trick a pig like creature by flying into his face and got him to drop his electrified rod, which he picked up again in a rage and used to shock the rest of them in the behind. These ran around hitting each other and the pig that had hit them until they all blew up into purple smoke.

A key dropped down from the ceiling but Zane was suspicious of this. As he flew through the lock of the next door three shadow hands dropped down from the ceiling, and looked around in total confusion after finding no one there at all.

Mya gasped when she saw Zane,

He shushed her and winked at her but then as he tried to get to the gate he saw the monster gaurding her. It was a huge puppet being manned by at least thirty pig like creatures,

"Look out!" Mya screamed as they made the puppet swipe an arm down,

Zane zoomed through the bars, became Zane sized again and dragged Mya with him to the far corner of the cage.

"Link...Link!" Zane said into the whistle.

Out in the main room Link and Zelph looked at each other, trying to work out where the voice was coming from.

"Zane?!" Link called

"Link! I'm with your sister but you have to listen to me! There's a puppet guarding her but it's being worked by at least thirty of those pig like creatures that captured her, a little smaller but still big enough to knock us all out...maybe even kill us. I can see a light on the top of their heads, they're being controlled by the one that took your sister. You have to find him and destroy him before you even think about heading this way!" Zane' voice rang

"Which way is this way?!" Zelph called

"Where are you?!" Zane' voice rang

"Main room I guess, no idea how we're getting to some of these rooms though if he's not down here!" Link called

"I see you now. The locked door right of the tunnel, we're through there!" Zane' voice rang

"How did you get through it?!" Link asked

"Don't worry about that now, find that pig!"

Link and Zelph looked around until they found the only door they could go through and then made their way over to it. It took some doing for Link to get the door to roll open but eventually it did. He realised there had to have been power in this place at onc point because of the mechanism on the door.

Zelph jumped as the door rolled shut on them on entering the room. There were three blocks in a shallow pool, on sliding plates and a track Link and Zelph could walk on, and there were three switches on the floor at various points. Link and Zelph quickly realised what they had to do but after a laugh rang out and a beeping sound they realised they only had a certain amount of time to do this task.

The first time they let it slip by to work out how long they had. When the timer ran out they were warped back to the start point, after that it was trial and error to get the blocks onto the three switches on time.

When they had a key dropped down from the ceiling and they heard a rumble. Link and Zelph left the room to find a bridge going across from the ledge above to the ledge on the right, where there was another locked door.

Link and Zelph climbed the vines and then gingerly walked across the bridge that bent alarmingly in the middle.

A fire was lit up on the arch walkway and some bats flew down towards them. This startled Zelph and she fell off the bridge into the water below. Link used his shield to deflect them after killing one and realising they were real and not of the Shanklin Minerals.

"Zelph! Are you alright?!" He now called,

Zelph had gotten herself out of the water, climbed the vine and walked to the centre of the bridge again by this stage,

"Yes!" She yelled in his ear

This startled Link and he fell into the water, making her laugh.

"Really, we're playing that game?" He called up before shaking his head, smiling and swimming to the ledge, "Oh I am so going to get you back for that later"

In the next room Link and Zelph found some of the guards with eyes in the back. Link and Zelph were ready for them and although they got sent flying once or twice they soon made scap of them. They then looked all around the room but for a minute or two but they couldn't for the life of them work out how to get to the next floor or even where the next room was, and then they saw a pair of eyes in a small tunnel, not quite as small as the first but small enough.

Link drew his sword and the owner of the eyes screeched

"Don't...don't hurt me!" It called

"Who is there?" Link asked, he was stunned to find that it was the cheeky Kokiri, who had challeged Skit, "What are you doing here!?" Link cried, putting his sword away

"Oh please don't be angry with me Link I only wanted to help" The cheeky Kokiri cried

Link smiled,

"We could do with a map" Link said

"Oh! Oh, I know where you can find one!" The cheeky Koikiri exclaimed, "There's a room above this but you're going to have to use the tunnels to get to it" He said before he took a stick and drew the path for Link and Zelph "You pass three holes in the roof of this tunnel and at the third is where you want to climb, if you try climbing the others there are traps so you'll get into trouble, then you want to go the opposite way through the next tunnel past two holes in the roof before climbing up, then go back on yourself through the last tunnel until you get into a room with the map in it"

"Thank you..." Link began

"Pip!" The cheeky Kokiri said

"Wait for us by the entrance, are we clear?" Link ordered

"Uh huh!" He nodded

"Are there any more of you in here?" Link asked

"No" Pip told him honestly

"Did you tell Nanna or the leader you were going into the woods?" Link asked, Pip sat down on the floor and burst into tears, "You are a puzzle Pip, you want to be brave but you do stupidly dangerous things in the process, I'm not mad and they might act mad when we go back but it's only because they worry about you"

Pip sniffed and Link let him hug him before running off.

Link smiled after him and then braced himself for the next set of tunnels.

Even Zelph had a tough time with these tunnels but eventually they got out and into this small room Pip had told them about. In the corner of the room was a skeleton holding a map. Before Zelph or Link could take it though its eye sockets lit up and the skeleton came after them.

Link had a tough time with this one but he got him eventually and Zelph got the map. They sat on the floor and looked at the map together under the light of the lit torch above their heads.

"There should be a door in here somewhere" Zelph said, Link stood up, took his sword and started bashing the walls, Zelph covered her ears "Link, what're you doing!?"

"Using my ears, the wall with the door behind it will sound..." He began, helping her up before bashing the wall behind her, "Different"

"How're we getting through it?" Zelph asked

"This is where it gets a bit dangerous because we need to back up into that tunnel so I can take a bomb from my bag and roll it over there, it'll detonate after about three seconds once it makes impact with the wall" Link told her.

With a degree of difficulty Zelph and Link had to get down on all fours and back into the tunnel, Zelph directing Link so he didn't accidently kick her in the head.

Once they were ready Link carefully took the bomb from his bag and rolled it at the wall, the first one went off too early and took out a big roach casually walking around, minding it's own business, the second didn't go off at all, the third did the trick and Zelph was grateful because by now she was starting to suffocate with the heat generating in this small space. They climbed back out of the tunnel and then left through the door now available to them.

They found a new ledge and the top of the suspended chandelier.

Link could see that if raised they could use it as a ledge to get onto the enclosed bridge. He looked up and saw a mechanism on the underbelly of the enclosed bridge,

"I think this was designed to go up at some point" Link summerised, "This is the only thing with power running through it but there's something wrong"

Zelph looked up and saw four switches with soft spots in the centre,

"The switches need to be activated, I don't want to waste my light arrows on them though" She told him, "Haven't you any normal arrows?"

"No" Link said after searching his bag, "But we do have the sling shot, how good are you?"

Zelph took her sling shot, took aim and fired but it was not use,

"Wait! You can target anything you need to hit with your mark!" Zelph realised

Link held up the back of his hand to the switch and a light appeared, Zelph fired a shot and this time it worked,

She hit all of the switches and the chandelier moved up to the walkway with them.

Link and Zelph had to be quick to climb up and off oto the bridge before the chandelier went back down and after a fight with two pig like creatures with electrified rods they used the map to work out which way they should go. They chose to go left.

It was in this room that Link and Zelph came across the big pig like creature that had taken his sister. Link and Zelph were ready for him this time.

Bars came up to stop them escaping but right now he was oblivious to their prescence.

There were shelves everywhere, all up the walls that they could climb on. With Link gesturing he went one way and Zelph went the other. Up on the shelf Link found a jar full of dirt, with a handful he now called down to get the pig' attention.

"Hey!" Link called

The pig looked up and Link poured the dust into his mouth to distract him before flipping off the shelf onto the floor and hitting the pig' behind with the sword.

He got a shock when he saw an eye appear on the pig' back and the pig turned round and batted him across the room, into a wall.

"Link!" Zelph called, readying her bow, "I know how to beat him!"

"Great" Link said weakly, getting up and dodging the pig so he could eat some jelly hearts,

The pig now took a swipe at the ledge Zelph was on but she managed to get to one higher up,

"Link! Listen! Zelda can freeze him with the light arrows but you need to make the mark of a Tri-Force piece in his back to defeat him!" Came Zane' voice,

Link nodded and ducked and dived until the pig was where Zelph needed it to be, then when she shot the eye with a light arrow Link could get a shot in with the sword. He got batted back and the process started again, he ducked and dived until Zelph could fire a light arrow and he could swipe with the sword. This time he got out of the way and the process started again until Zelph could fire a light arrow and Link could swipe with his sword. Finally the pig let out a cry and exploded into purple smoke but not before tossing the key they needed into the air and out of the room.

Link and Zelph ran out of the room as the bars blocking the door fell.

As they ventured across the walkway to the next room, down stairs all the pigs holding up the puppet vanished and the puppet fell to the ground.

"It worked!" Mya exclaimed

"Hang on, I've seen enough to know it's not really done with us yet" Zane said

In the next room Zelph and Link could see the key they needed in the middle of the room but Link had seen enough to know it wasn't going to be that simple and sure enough with one step a wall rose, a step back and it sank.

This was trial and error but eventually they got the key and then screamed as the floor went from under them.

They landed in the room just before the one Mya was trapped in.

They were injured quite badly but as luck would have it the shadow hands were directly under them and so were dealt with almost instantly.

After eating the jelly hearts to heal themselves, they got up and looked at the electrified rods on the ground, left by the pigs Zane had tricked earlier.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Link asked Zelph

They each took a rod and used the key to get into the room Mya was trapped in.

Sure enough the bars came up and the puppet was up on it's feet, eyes aglow before Link could even check on Mya.

They had three problems, he was huge! He had three eyes, one at the back, two at the front and he also had a glowing diamond on each of his arms.

Without words Link and Zelph worked together, they used the rods to get the puppet to its knees so they could take out the eyes, Zelph the front two with her light arrows and Link with his sword on the back eye.

Zane blew into the whistle and with the diamonds on the arms targeted Link did a spin attack and cracked them.

Once they had repeated this three times and had been batted and bruised and picked up and thrown they got him and with a few more stomps and a scream he exploded into purple smoke and the key to the cage Mya was stuck in dropped to the ground.

Mya sobbed with relief as Link let her out and they shared a long hug.

The Skull Kid, now Kokiri, and Pip met at the front of the Shrine and looked at each other in shock as the purple smoke replaced the black smoke and it shot out of the Shrine, became the face of Cannon, screamed and then vanished.

A second later it was raining rose petals.

All the way back in Kokiri Village Nanna and Skit stood up in shock and delight as they too saw the smoke and the petals raining down,.

The Kokiri' rejoiced along with them.

"That was just one Shrine of four, he has a way to go but it's a good start" Nanna smiled

Link, Zelph, Zane and Mya were ported to a very familiar looking tree where stood a stand, similar to the one at Zelph' Palace. It was in a pool with crystals and minerals in it. Link dipped his sword into it and the water ran up the blade and over his hand, adding to his strength and the sword' power. He also found two bows, and some normal arrows.

Link now put his sword away and touched the stand. A blue ball and a yellow ball appeared above it and started to spin slowly in circles. This took Link and Zelph by surprise.

"Let's go find Nanna" Mya said

Link nodded and Pip shrunk nervously.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

 **Epona**

There was a great surprise waiting for the Kokiri when Link, Mya, Zane and Zelph arrived back at the village with the ex Skull Kid and Pip.

"Mya, we've been so worried!" Nanna exclaimed, fussing over her, then she gasped at the sight of the ex skull kid, "You...how?"

Skit looked on in shock now,

"I believe you know this one" Link said presenting him with the ex Skull Kid,

"Chestnut!" Skit exclaimed, examining him closely, "How did this happen?"

The leader looked up at Link after also examinig the ex Skull Kid ,

"Skull Kids stay Skull Kids, how did you do it?"

"I didn't, the Gods did, they took pity on him after he helped us find our way to the Shrine and I expressed my gratitude with a hug so they saw that some good in him remained and they returned him to this state" Link explained,

Skit now rounded on Pip,

"Why did you leave the village without telling anyone? You're so irresponsible, you could have been killed or worse!"

"What's worse than death?" Zelph asked

"Becoming a Skull Kid, doomed to be lonley forever and never dying no matter how horrific your injuries, or being turned into a minion for the Shanklin!" Skit said, deadly serious,

"I wanted to help Link" Pip said, "You've every right to be mad at me; it was stupid not to tell anyone where I was going but I knew you wouldn't let me and then I'd have just gone anyway...not the point, I know but I did help Link" He continued, looking up at Link, "Right Link? Tell them"

"It's true, he did help, in fact we mightn't have got out of there at all or found Mya and Zane had he not disobeyed you" Link told them.

The Kokiri looked at Pip differently now and after a handshake between him and Skit all was forgiven and the party started.

Link lost Mya almost instantly to the Kokiri, she was mesmerised by them. Nanna looked right at home here too, as did Zane.

Zelph spent time with each Kokiri, letting them show her their houses and shops and child sized farmland so Link stole away for a quiet moment up in a tree house to reflect on everything. He turned to pick up an old sign that had fallen and blew the dust off it to see written on it was; Link' house. This house was highest up of the lot and was tween sized. Link was amazed and curious. He got up, opened the door and stepped inside. He lit a torch and panned it around. There was the little bed Link had been sleeping on when Navi woke him up the first time. There on the wall was his fishing chart and racing times and on a table next to the bed was a photo of Epona with Malon.

Link sat on the floor, opened up his bag, took out his wallet and a photo of his mother and his father. He hugged this to him and started crying,

"I miss you" He sobbed,

The sword glowed but no words came, he needed to cry.

It was Zelph, who realised Link had disappeared but Zane knew where to find him. He gave Link a few more moments before heading over to Link' tree house. He found Link upstairs by the window, looking out at an adult sized farm.

"I get it" Zane said,

"I needed some time but to be honest I never expected to find this place, this is the home of Shade Link isn't it?"

"Uh huh!" Zane said happily, "I know you might not think it but I know grief. This threat is a blessing in disguise, something to distract you and your little sister but when they sleep and it's just you and your thoughts it hits you all over again. You really won't move on until you've laid your parents to rest Link. It's OK to cry"

"I just don't want to cry in front of Mya or Nanna. Mya, the Hylians, Kokiri, Korki descendants and Zoras and Gorons need me to be strong and it breaks Nanna' heart to see me unhappy. I have cried because I need to. Right now the thing getting me through is this trick of the brain, it's telling me mum and dad are in another room, they're not dead and I can see them if I want. It's not true but it's helping" Link said openly before looking out at the farm again, "There's a adult sized farm out there"

"That's not the farm Epona came from, but she is here in New Zealand" Zane told him, Link looked at him, "All the Link's of the past have named their horse after the first, out of pure love for the story and because it's always been the wildest of the horses, never to be tamed by anyone other than the Hero of Time. They name all wild Mares Epona but only the real Epona will respond to the Hero of Time"

"Will I have a need of a horse?" Link asked

"If you want to get to Zora' Domain, yes; it's within enchanted land but you won't be able to just go to the Ranch and snag a wild Mare, there's a trick to taming her" Zane grinned

"The song?" Link asked

"Not just that, when we were at the Deku tree...he does talk but it is stupid o' clock in the morning to him, you activated two orbs, the space portal, which takes you straight back to the Palace and the time portal, that's the yellow one" Zane told him

"Hang on, you want me to go back in time, pick a young horse, sing to it then come back here and steal it?"

"No" Zane said, "The farmer will know who you are then and remember you later, play the tune and see which of the young horses are drawn to you, you'll know Epona' soul when you look into her eyes. Leave the farm, go forward a time and claim her for your own"

Link looked at Zane and grinned in shock,

"I need an instrument" He said

"Take Zelph' flute and when you get back I'll show you how to make a whistle, the one I use belonged to your dad...I was there the night he died but Shanklin' men put a block on my power there so I couldn't help him"

"It's alright Zane...Zane, who did the first Link wed?" Link asked but Zane just smiled, "Come to the Rach with me" He added

Zane nodded and they left the tree house.

Mya and Zelph caught up with Link and Zane by the path that led to the Deku Tree.

"Hey! Where're you two going?" Mya asked

"To get me a horse, I'll be back little sis, don't worry" Link told her

"Doesn't take four of us" Zelph said after a look from Link, "Let's go and watch this race between Pip and Skit, Mya!" She added, taking Mya' hand,

"Wait, Link, are we staying here?" Mya asked

"You and Nanna are, just until my task is complete" Link told her, then to Zelph he asked, "Zelph, may I borrow you're flute?"

Zelph nodded and gave him the flute before she and a delighted Mya left to watch a race around the village between Pip and Skit, which Skit won hands down, much to Pip' frustration.

Link smiled after Mya and went with Zane, back to the Deku Tree. Once there Link reached out and touched the yellow orb, this turned into an arched door and with a little trepidation Link and Zane stepped through it and out into the same space but at sunrise. The Deku Tree looked younger and slimmer Link thought as he and Zane past it.

Link got a shock when the tree winked at him but then he gave his signiture laugh and followed Zane into the empty Kokiri village, then through the fallen tree tunnel and across the bridge. Things here looked very different. There was a vast field just like the one he'd seen in Ocorina of Time.

"Welcome to Hyrule...well part of it anyway, what with the move, until all the portals have been activated you can see certain things and places but you can't get to them, each orb will take you back to the last place you visited, so when you activate the orb for the Zora Shrine it'll take you back to the Deku Tree and then the Gorons orb will take you to Zoras' Domain and the Snow Mountains will take you back to the Gorons. This Ranch up ahead is in touching distance to the Lost Wood, which is why we'll be able to get a horse from there" Zane told Link

Link was mesmorised,

"What era are we in?" He asked

"Hard to say but it's after the Ocorina sarga I know that. We're a little early for the Twighlight Princess and the Civil War isn't yet upon us, this is a good time to get a horse. Now you've met Skit you know why there were adults in it's neighbouring village; Ordon, they came back with their families to live. The Shade married a Hylian so that the next would grow up, Link of the Twilight Sarga was orphaned in the Civil War, 17 years later hell broke loose again and so began the Era of the Wolf"

Link nodded and the pair headed off for Lon, Lon Ranch.

Sure enough there was a pen of horses, some with names but Link didn't pay any attention to these.

"What was your name again kid?" The farmer asked, "I'm of milk right now so you know, in case you were looking"

"Link" Link told him

"Ah...is it that time again? I should have guessed, that tunic fits you well Link, you know who made it don't you?" The farmer said

"I'm afraid I don't" Link told him kindly

"Have you any wild Mare?" Zane asked

"I do, two in fact, if you follow me I'll take you to them, I can't have them in the pen they'd only bolt and maybe even injure a few of the other horses, even if they are small right now" The farmer replied

He led them around the pen and to the barn that once held cattle and there were two very angry horses. Link wasn't scared though, just confused. He took out Zelph' flute and played Epona' song. Both horses calmed instantly, one was slightly bigger than the other.

Link stroked the large one and then noticed the sad look on the smaller one' face,

"You are for the Wolf" He told the larger horse, "Treat him well" Then he cuddled the smaller horse, there was a bond there, something in the eyes that told Link this was his Epona, "Oh you're definitely my horse"

"I'm afraid you can't just take her" The farmer said

"How long till I can take her?" Link asked

"Come back in two years, we'll race for it" The farmer said

"Two years! Race for her!" Link said as they left the Ranch, "How on Earth are we going to achieve that?"

Zane took out his whistle and blew a tune into it by wiggling his fingers over grooves in the woodwork. Link felt dizzy, everything spun and before he knew it he and Zane were in the middle of a Warzone.

"Uh oh!" Zane exclaimed, "I went forward too far"

Link and Zane hid, ducked and dived back to the ranch where they found both Link' Epona and Wolf Link' Epona freaking out completely and the farmhand nowhere to be seen,

"We've got to get them both out of here, can you ride?" Link asked

"Can you?" Zane replied

"Yes, though how I know that I have no idea" Link said

He played Epona' song and he and Zane got up onto either horse but they had to be quick there after when a barrage of arrows on fire flew over the wall and soon everything including the grass in places was ablaze.

Link and Zane galloped with both Epona' over three fences as they had no choice but to go in a straight line, they couldn't turn at the speed they were going. They galloped over the ranch all, across Hyrule Field, fighting Sheika off as they did so until they were able to get into the forest some distance from Kokiri,

Things were quite different here.

Link and Zane past two light springs, annoyed a bird selling potions and jumped two more fences as they crossed the bridge onto the path to Ordon. They didn't let up on the horses until they were at the tree house of another Link. Wolf Link; only Wolf Link was still a baby right now, and was being cradled by the Mayer, who was most alarmed to see Link and Zane.

They pulled the horses up and dismounted,

The second they had Link' Epona nudged him with affection and Wolf Link' Epona walked over to the Mayer to sniff baby Wolf Link,

"Well I'll be" The Mayer said, "Never see a horse do that"

"She seems to like him" Zane said, "Keep her"

"Oh we couldn't do that" The Mayer said

"I'm Link, knight to the Princess Zelda, I have no need of two horses, I only ask for the safest route to the Deku Tree from this point, I am sure you must know someone, who is good with horses, she'll work hard I assure you, has your child a name?" Link asked

"This is not my child, his mother just passed and his father...well, you've seen it out there, he's not likely to return...would you mind awefully if I were to name him Link?"

"I would be honoured" Link smiled,

"One, who shares his name with the Hero of Time is bound to do great things" Zane said

The Mayer looked at him in shock and then told them the way to the Deku Tree, Link thanked him but before he left the Mayer had one last question for him,

"What about the horse?"

"She's called Epona" Link told him and then he wrote some notes on a piece of paper that quickly turned into parchment befitting of the era, "Play this to calm her, she can get a little wild at times" and with that he and Link left on the path the Mayer had shown them.

It was still late when Link and Zane arrived back with Epona in tow. Zelph was waiting for them, she was half asleep but she didn't care about that once she saw Epona.

"Oh my God! Epona' real too!" She gushed, kissing her nose and petting her,

Link smiled,

"You really waited up for me?" He asked

"Yes, she did" This was the Deku Tree, Link looked up in shock, then causing Zelph to blush to added, "We had a most interesting coversation"

"Great Deku Tree" Link breathed

"Link of our time. I sense that you discovered a path running parallel to an ancestor of yours, that of Wolf Link"

Zelph looked at Link in surprise

"I did, this was meant, wasn't it?"

"Only you can say Link, the sun is rising, I suggest the three of you get some rest, there is some unease up at Zoras' Domain, bare this in mind before venturing beyond Kokiri. You will find a map with a passable route, on the table in Shade' tree house, I had the fairies light the lamps too and the fire"

Link nodded and led Epona towards the child sized farmland, Zelph was close behind, Zane though, was a few strides behind them both. Zelph was still nervous around Link but as long as he had only eyes for his task it meant he wouldn't look anywhere other than her way and she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible,

"Blimey" Zelph said once Link had explained everything to her, "You only went out for a horse"

This made Link laugh.

Link and Zelph climbed up into Shade Link' tree house where Link immediately grabbed and unravelled the map left for him,

Zelph sat on the small bed,

"We have to go past what was Lon, Lon Ranch to get to it, we could go through it I suppose, if you wanted to see it" Link said, there was no response, "Zelph?"

He turned to see that Zelph was fast asleep.

Link took his sword and shield off, found a blanket, draped it over her and then sat with his back to a wall, watching over her until he too fell fast asleep.

When Zelph woke up the next morning she was surprised to see a breakfast laid out for her on the table, a fresh pot of tea and a note from Link telling her he'd meet her by the tunnel to the bridge out, on Epona.

She turned the note over in her hand to find another that read; PS I also took the liberty of getting you some fresh clothes, I hope they fit, if they don't please don't hold it against me.

Zelph smiled as she crossed to a tunk that had some blue gil trousers and a blue top draped over it, along with some blue boots.

Zelph quickly changed into her new outfit and climbed down from the tree house, where she was greeted by the Kokiri, all of whom told her Link was waiting for her and where he was waiting for her and to drop into the shop if she wanted some normal arrows, as they had some now.

She followed this advice and then found Link by the tunnel to the bridge out, grooming Epona.

Link turned and smiled at her,

"I have my own whistle now, that whistle Zane has was dad', I don't want to take it away from him"

"Awe...how do we get to Zoras' Domain?" Zelph asked

Link and Zelph rode on Epona past the Deku Tree, through the forest, past Ordon and the two lakes, out onto part of Hyrule Field,

"If we go through the ruins of the Ranch and we break through the mirror, go a little way until we find a lake, not Hylia, this will be smaller than that, there's another mirror somewhere around it and it'll lead us to the entrance to Zora' Domain" Link was telling her as they approached the ruins,

"Wait, why can I see Hyrule Castle?" Zelph asked

"That's the thing, we can see it all but we can't get to it this way, it's the same in all eras accept the era of the Ocorina, because these places were moved. There are two enchanted places here in New Zealand and so because we have a map with a direct route to Zora' Domain from the Lost Woods and Kokori we can reach it from this point"

"So we're seeing the places we can't reach as they were once" Zelph summerised

"Exactly" Link told her.

Link and Zelph followed the path into what was once Lon, Lon Ranch and as Link suspected, once they past under the arched sign the Ranch became a burnt out, overgrown ruin. Epona was a little spooked at first but Link was a good handler and quickly took control,

"Guess this horse wrangling thing is inherited, I never rode before but I knew I would be able to ride Epona" Link told her, "I always loved Epona so this is all kids of awesome for me"

"It's exactly as it looks in Ocorina of Time out there but BOTW here" Zelph gushed,

"I was here when they burned it" Link told her, "That was a scary moment, we saved Wolf Link' Epona while we were at it and brought it to Ordon where Wolf Link was still a tot"

"So that's what the Deku Tree meant" Zelph replied

"Uh huh!" Link smiled

"Oh you are so a Korki but you have our Hylian ears, they're cool" She replied

"Zoras Domian, I wonder what we'll see there" Link grinned


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

 **The Zoras and the Hylia Shrine**

On they rode, across a stunning field with breath taking views of mountains and a river. They stopped for a moment so that Link could study his map and then following the river they eventually came across the next mirror, through which they would ride and find the path leading up to Zoras Domain.

Through the mirror Link and Zelph were stunned to find themselves on a two toned blue gravel path. Just ahead of them two huge statues of Zoras guarded a huge gate with the Hi-Range symbol on the lock.

"Your theme hasn't changed as it? Play it and see if the gate opens for us" Link said.

At that moment a Zora with a friendly expression on his face came up to the gate.

"Or I could just open it up for you but by all means Princess, play if you wish" He grinned

Link and Zelph got down from Epona as the Zora opened the gate, "I'm Aqua"

"We're still new to all this" Link told the Zora, shaking his hand

"You look like your father Link" Link gave him a look of surprise, "Yes I knew him, we Zora don't age the same way Hylians do, he loved to dive with me off our highest ledge here. Follow me, we've been expecting you...oh, your horse will have to stay here but don't worry she's safe, I'll have one of the other Zoras come out to watch her"

Link nodded and stroked Epona,

Epona nuzzled him and Link and Zelph followed the Zora along the gravel path. There were water arches of purple and blue running over them but they didn't get wet. It reminded him of a trip to a British Theme Park and something called; The Bubble Ride.

There were stunning flowers of purple and blue in the hedges that also lined the path they were walking on.

"The Deku Tree told me there was some unease here at Zora' Domain" Link remarked

"Sadly yes, Shanklin dropped an anti-mineral stone over the lake and whatever came of it has taken up residence in the Hylian Shrine. My younger brother trapped him and was hoping to drain the lake but the last mechinism that can do that has to be shot with a sharp object and if it's not done within a set time then he has to wait another day. He's been gone a week now" Aqua told them, "You'll need a gil tat and tunic if you're going to venture into the Shrine. We can't have the Hero of Time or the King' daughter drowning"

"That is something I'm sure both of us would wish to avoid too" Link said, "What does the gil tat do?"

"Oh, it helps a non Zora to breathe underwater, the tunic helps with movement, the gils on the tunic move with the water so you can move freely" Aqua replied

"I know a Zora decendant who would love a chance to dive with the Zoras" Zelph said

"Oh really?" Aqua asked, his interest peaked, "She any good? We might give her a little watch, when things calm down here of course"

"Her name is Ruler...oh my God" Zelph gushed

They had just reached the Domain itself and once again they were entranced. It was a complete mix of Ocorina of Time and Breath of the Wild,

"That's a funny name for a girl but OK" Aqua said, then ushering over a Zora he said to them, "Ruler Oh My God, look her up"

"Oh no, it's just Ruler!" Zelph called but the Zora Aqua spoke to was already gone,

"He knows" Link grinned, knowing full well Aqua was pulling her leg,

"We will watch out for this Ruler Zora though, we're always looking for teams, we have a great water event every year just for the Zora decendants" Aqua told Zelph and Link, "It got cancelled last minute this year thanks to Shanklin and his men, they're such buzz kills"

Link smiled.

At that moment the Zora Aqua spoke to came back,

"I'm going to need a sir name for that Zora"

"It's Mori" Zelph told the Zora after a gesture from Aqua.

After this Aqua led them up to the very top of the Domain where the Zora King was waiting for them. The path up was carlved into one of two large pink and white seashells. There were shops on the way up and three schools and a library that was actually underwater, they could see this through a cute little window on their right, quite near to the top.

After about ten minutes they finally reached the top and there by the doors to the Palace of the Zora the Zora King was standing to greet Link and Zelph.

"Ah, welcome Link, Princess" King Zora said, then to Zelph he added, "And how quaint that you wear our colours"

"Oh, Link picked this outfit out" She replied

"Link has a fine eye" The Zora King said with a smile, "I am sure Aqua has told you of our situation, it's most frustrating and alarming" He continued as he let them into the Palace and lead them through the main lobby, "Link, if you take that door on your right you will find all you need and feel free to wonder the shops or library before you head for Lake Hylia"

"I'll wait here for you Link" Zelph said, she didn't really know who to follow so she decided this would be best,

"I have arranged tea for us on the roof terrace Princess, a much nicer view than that of a door dear" The Zora King said

Zelph laughed a little with relief and followed the Zora King.

Link found himself in a beautiful wash room with brown marble floors, warm sun coloured walls with gold rimmed mirrors, which were actually waterfalls, within which you could see your reflection.

There was a gold rimmed, biscuit coloured upholstered chair in the corner and on which was a large box and inside this box was the blue tunic with gils on it, blue trousers with gold gils on them and blue boots with scales and fins on them. There was also a hookshot, which he expected to be weighty but actually wasn't.

Link changed into this outfit and then went off to find Zelph and the Zora King.

The view from up here was just as amazing and he could see the path they'd need to take in order to reach Lake Hylia.

"You look very fetching in that outfit Link" Zelph remarked

"Shush, not in front of my dad" He smiled, pointing at the sword.

"You'll have a bit of a wait I'm afraid but you could make your way down after this and get your barings, meet my other son while your there, he's called; Snork" The Zora King told them

Link nodded.

After they had spent a while chatting about Link' father, watched the Zora' diving and bought a bag jelly hearts, plus enough arrows for an entire army Link retrieved Epona and he and Zelph made their way to Lake Hylia.

Zelph wanted to ask Link what he had meant by his comment earlier but by the time she plucked up the courage to ask they were there and approaching Snork, who was trying to get across from one platform to another in the centre of the lake.

He stopped when he saw Link and Zelph on Epona,

"Oh hey traveller! Have you a bow?" Snork asked

"I'm Link, this is Zelda" Link said, Snorked bowed in shock, which shocked Link and embrarrassed Zelph "I just activated the portal by the Deku Tree and was told of some discord at Zora' Domain. You're brother and your father filled us in and sent us down here to assist you"

"Oh thank you, there's a switch that comes up out of the water and if we hit it with an arrow the water will drain enough for you to get into the Shrine. If you could get rid of that Octopus thing and restore our Shrine and Portals too we will be forever in your debt.

You'll need to be centred to the lake, I need to stay this side so I can see if the Shrine is blocked or not" Snork explained.

Link nodded in undestanding and he and Zelph made their way across the vast lake and then across two bridges to an island, where they saw a stone identicle to the one on the island Snork was on,

"Hey Snork! These stones are facing the wrong way, we need to turn them so the light of the setting sun arches the switch!" He called

Snork gave Link a look of surprise as he realised he was right and with some effort they turned the stones so that the two yellow gems they could now see either side would catch the light at the right time and arch the switch.

After that it was a waiting game.

Snork took to some fishing while Link and Zelph sat back to back and enjoyed their surroundings.

It was here that Zelph took her chance to question Link,

"Link, what did you mean by your remark earlier, when I offered you that compliment?"

"Oh it wasn't anything personal. We had strict rules at my old school in Japan, we're not aloud to date until we complete our education, we're not seen to be mature enough to handle in depth emotions that come with the L word. Boys have to have their hair in a certain style, girls can either have their hair tied up on wear it down but they can't style it. We want to do our best, we want to be repsectful of ourselves and to others. It's very important there, respect. My father would not approve of flirting even if he did have hopes of a union of a romanic nature or even marriage down the line. I may give in to looking sometimes so you know I'm here but will always keep myself in check and obey those rules" Link told her openly

"Wow" Zelph said, "Do you have opinions, with reguards to me?"

"Ask me when I'm 21" Link smiled

Zelph' heart pounded

Finally the sun started to set, the light hit the gems on the stones and Link was up on his feet, bow at the ready. As the switch rose and the light arched over it he fired an arrow and the water in the lake drained away to nothing.

"Link! The gate is opening but I'm not sure how you're getting down there!" Snork called, "I can't stay out here long without any water, I'm going to have to head back to the Domain, I'm sorry!"

Link had seen some grooves in the wall of the Shrine, which was in the shape of a giant turtle.

"It's OK Snork, we'll find a way down!" Link reasured Snork

Snork nodded and left,

"How're we getting down there?" Zelph asked

"Do you see those grooves in the walls?" Link asked her, pointing them out before showing her his hook shot, "Well, I found this in with my water tunic and it's surprisingly lighter than I had expected" He poisitoned himself and used the laser on it to point in the right direction, "Hold on to me tightly Zelda, just not so tight that I can't breathe"

Zelph nodded, wrapped her arms around Link' middle and braced herself as he let the hook go and they flew across the lake at an angle. They landed on a ledge just above the entrance to the Shrine. Link then shot the hook into the grove in the middle and then lowered himself down but before retracting the hook he had Zelph lower herself down to him.

Link smiled and then gupled at how far down they were,

"Don't" Zelph said

"If the water came crashing back in around us" Link began

"He said it" Zelph commented,

"Even with these suits on I would freak out!" Link said before retracting the hook from the hookshot, "You ready for this?"

Without waiting for a response they entered the Hylian Shrine.

Link and Zelph walked along a corridor with two tone blue and yellow tiled floor. There were some weird yellow critters running around but that didn't worry them too much. They could hear this octopus creature screeching from somewhere within the Shrine and this chilled them a little. This corridor went on for ages until it curved round two ways, making them feel unstable.

"Which way do we go? We should have brought Zane with us" Link remarked

"Use the whistle Link" Came the voice of the sword.

Link tried this and the whistle wanted to leave Link' hand, Link let got and it floated before him and glowed,

"Link...Link can you hear me?" Came Zane' voice

"I can hear you" Link said

"You can go either way but there are traps both sides you need to locate, navigate through them and you'll eventually come to the main area, I can't see what these traps are from here though Link as I can only see the space you're in, when you get to the main room, I'll tell you more there" Came Zane' voice

The whistle dropped and Link grabbed it.

"I can't decide" He said

"I can't decide, traps both sides he said and we have to go that way, we can't go up" Zelph said

"Can't we?" Link asked looking up

"You could if you had a water bomb" Came a familiar voice,

They turned in surprise to find Aqua behind them with a shower cloud above his head.

"Aqua...how are you doing that?" Link asked

"Oh, it's one of the good minerals, I'm of age so I can use it, a future ruler, Snork was worried about you and asked me to come help you out"

"Do you know anything about these traps?" Zelph asked

"It could have been to prevent toom raders you know, like the Pyramids...oh, I hope you don't have to go there, those Garudo guards aren't at all friendly, the Garudo Shrines weren't built for anyone to get into, they were built to stop the undead from getting out...whether or not you'll have a need of that power isn't down to me" Aqua told them

"We know there isn't a way around" Link said with thought

"But Link, even if there's a way up there's no ladder; that ceiling is really high" Zelph said

"Not necessarily" Aqua said

He took out a bomb with fins and placed it on the floor,

Once they had all stepped back the bomb rolled across the floor, up the wall and onto the ceiling. It scanned it and then blew up and in place of the debris was a door. Link was stunned.

Zelph grinned.

Link used the hookshot to get a grip on the door and then retracted the chain to get the door to open. As it did some steps rolled down.

Link, Zelph and Aqua climbed up into the secret passage above and followed it to a light at the far end. Some stiars led down from the end of this passage to the main room.

There were more stairs winding up to the ceiling, and doors.

"Not all of these doors are real" Aqua told them, "And if it wasn't for that octopus or whatever that thing is I could show you something really cool"

"Link!" This was Zane' voice, coming from the whistle and it made everyone jump.

"What is that?" Aqua asked

"My version of Navi but he can speak through this whistle and see the rooms we're in when we're in these Shrines" Link explained

Aqua nodded,

"Got it"

"OK Link, the mechanism is broken in places, you need to fix it to open the bottom of the observatory at the very top of the Shine. Doing that will covince that thing to raise the water level, it will come after you three. If you want to defeat him you're going to have to dry him out, remember that"

At that moment there was a rumble and spiked creatures rolled out of vents in the walls, then released tiny bombs that blasted the stairs in places all the way up. Link, Aqua and Zelph screamed as these portions of stairs fell and cracked the floor beneath them.

Link used his arrows on them, Zelph used her arrrows on them and Aqua used his fingers, which turned into whips to get multiples of them at once for Link to slice through. Once all of them had blown up into clouds of purple smoke a key shaped like a seahorse floated down to Link. Link grinned at it before grabbing it and looking at Aqua,

"You're very handy" He said

"Did you really just say that?" Zelph groaned

Aqua bowed and lead them striaght across the centre of the room. They had to climb over broken stairs but eventually they came to a seahorse shaped door.

"Oh this is how we'll know which room to go in, they're all different shapes!" Link realised

"Correct"

With a little trepidation Link unlocked the seahorse shaped door and they ventured into the first room. It appeared to be empty but there were pipe connections on the walls and a lawn in the centre. There were yellow wheels all over the place and faces.

Aqua looked concerned and this worried Link and Zelph.

"What is it?" Link asked

"We need to be really careful in here. This is the lock for the door into Engine Room 1 and the wrong combination could kill us" He told them

"So what's the combination?" Zelph asked

"I don't know I didn't build this Shrine, I told you, think Pyramid, it was full of traps to stop toom raiders or if you were Garudo to stop the undead getting out again" Aqua said

"So what're we going to do?" Zelph asked

"We go back in time" Link smiled

Aqua grinned,

"Do you remember the tune of times past?"

Link thought back and the tune Zane played came to his mind, after that it was a case of trying to play that same tune on his whistle, moving his fingers over the grooves in the wood. Aqua and Zelph pulled a few faces until he got it right. Once he had got it right, a lovely tune was played all around them. They all felt dizzy until three Zoras appeared in the same space.

"Right, now..." One Zora began, then he saw Link, Zelph and Aqua standing there, "Where did you three come from? Princess, if your mother finds out you sneaked out of the castle again she'll have my head"

They realised that this Zora thought Zelph was an ancestor and suddenly Link realised the story began way back in the 80's with the Legend of Zelda,

"Oh woe" Link gasped

"These people are my guards, I was most curious about this lock of yours, I'm interested in mechanics" Zelph blagged

"Oh we know" The second Zora sighed,

"Won't you show me? Please? For my book" Zelph asked

"Oh who'd believe her anyway and the guards are silent, you may as well?" The third Zora said

"That one's not silent!" The first Zora complained

"Please!" Zelph pleaded

"Oh very well it's..." He proceeded to tell them the code "Got that?"

Link nodded and blew the tune of time backwards into his whistle until they were back in their own time.

"Let me see that" Aqua said, Link gave him the notebook, "That's a tune with two instruments"

"You think he lied to us?" Link asked

"Soon find out"

They each stood where the Zoras' they'd just met stood and as they turned the wheels as they were instructed to Aqua sang the combination to them. It was the tune from the Ocorina of Time and to their great surprise it worked.

Water poured into the room as one of the walls rose up. The force knocked Link, Zelph and Aqua down and it took a bit of effort to get back up but once they had they got into Engine room 1.

It was a massive space.

There was a giant cog in the centre and large pipes snaking the round walls. They could see from the platform they were on which part of the mechanism was missing and it wasn't long before the wall lowered behind them and a blue lizard with a sword jumped down, holding the piece in it's hand and a snail shaped key. The lizard swallowed the piece whole and the key and then jumped into the air and landed between Link and Aqua, and Zelph.

Link had to back up and soon found himself on the mechanism. This was a very dangerous place to be, it was partly under water and there were many places Link could trap a foot.

Zelph soon realised this lizard was invulnerable to attack but Link couldn't get at him either because he kept jumping about the place. The only thing Link could do right now was defend or get hurt.

Aqua used his hand whip attack to hold the lizard still so that Link could get a shot in with the sword. The lizard made Aqua' fingers burn and forced him to retreat. After a jelly heart he took hold of the lizard again and this time the shot Link got in was leathal and the lizard exploded into purple smoke, leaving behind the piece the mechanism was missing and the key.

Link picked them up and looked at the mechanism with worry.

"Pass it here" Aqua said

Link made his way back to the platform and Aqua used his whip attack to place the missing piece back. The cog turned, the Shrine rumbled and a screech was heard as water poured into the room. Link, Zelph and Aqua swam up to the next floor of the Shrine and exited through a door that took them to a room similar to the first.

"Maybe we have to use that combiation in reverse to get out of here and back into the main room" Zelph suggested.

They did this and a door appeared but when Link went to open it the door came to life and batted him across the room.

Zelph shot an arrow at it but it just wobbled and batted her across the room. Aqua was also batted across the room. He frowned at the fake door and released a water bomb. It rolled across the room and blew up centre of the fake door, revealing the real door.

After a few jelly hearts Link, Zelph and Aqua made their way back out into the main room.

As the stairs were broken they had to swim across to the next door on the other side of the room. There were two fake ones either side and in the process of trying to eliminate them Link and Aqua were batted back into the water a few times and Zelph was knocked down a few of the broken steps. The light arrows set the fake doors ablaze but that only made them more dangerous. In the end Link came up with the solution,

"Why didn't we think of this sooner? These bombs only go off on impact with something, we've got pleanty of arrows, why don't we tie bombs to some of them?"

Aqua was up for this and after a while of faffing about, trying to find a way to secure the bombs to the arrows they had it and after shooting two of them at the fake doors Link, Zelph and Aqua finally got into the next room.

Here they found cubes with ladders on all sides and pictures at the top of them. Link climbed one of the ladders and stood on a cube.

He looked down at the image,

"OK, so, we have images on these cubes of the wheels that unlocked the door to Engine Room 1, I think we have to move these cubes until they're in the order of the combination"

"Oh what?!" Zelph complained, "Have you seen how many there are in here? How can we see which is which or what goes where?"

"We need to see it complete" Aqua remarked.

Using Link' whistle they went back in time and climbed up and down the completed tiles, making marks with coloured pens on each block, while hiding from the Zoras in Engine Room 2. Once they had it they went back to the present and sure enough the marks they had placed on the cubes were still there and with some effort Link, Zelph and Aqua were able to piece the blocks together in the right order to reveal Engine Room 2.

Once they were in this room they were faced with Wizrobes that conjured up the bomb critters they had encountered at the beginning. While Aqua and Zelph dealt with them, using a combination of whip hands and arrows Link used a combiation of his mark and the whistle to target the Wizrobes so he could fire arrows at them. After two shots at each the Wizrobes conjured up a lizard with a sword, forcing Link to cease going after the Wizrobes. Zelph however used her mark and the Whistle to deal with the Wizrobes and once they blew up into purple smoke with a hidious scream Link could take care of the lizard. Upon the lizard blowing up into purple smoke the next missing piece of the mechanism appeared.

Aqua placed it, the cogs turned and the water rose.

This time they didn't have to worry about the puzzle awaiting them as the octopus was so mad it had smashed through the seal and was thrashing it's tenticles about, the walls were smashed in until he could find Link, Zelph and Aqua.

Aqua was snatched and taken.

The water rose higher and higher. Link and Zelph were stuck because of the tenticles. Link' sword wouldn't work underwater.

Link used the hookshot to make the tenticles retract so that he and Zelph could give chase. There was a strong current in the main room and Link and Zelph had to take the stairs, using the hookshot where necessary to keep up with the octopus as he rose with Aqua in his grip, Aqua was now out cold.

Finally they were up on the observatory roof with a glass dome and as the octopus joined them something strange happened, the water froze under them so some of the octopus was still underwater.

Link and Zelph would need Aqua but they had to get him out of the octopus' grip first.

"Link! Listen" Came Zane' voice, "Do you see the sensors on his head?"

"Yes!" Link called,

"They're controlling his tenticles, you need to blast them with your bomb arrows until he lets Aqua go! Daze the creature until Aqua comes back around and slash away with your sword, make sure you create the Tri-Force symbol when attacking a mineral main guard! When Aqua comes round get him to use the whip hands to remove the tenticles still underwater. This will create a flood that you need to freeze by using the hookshot while standing on the ice itself. This will dry the octopus out for a time"

Link and Zelph stood at either end of the room on a reasonably sized ledge, where they used their bomb arrows to blast sensors. Once the octopus had dropped Aqua, Zelph dragged Aqua to the ledge while Link slashed the Tri-Force symbol into the body of the octopus. As instructed, once Aqua was on his feet he used his hand whip attack to pull the other tenticles out of the water. As predicted water shot up through the holes left behind. Link had to be careful but quick in standing on the ice and using the hookshot to freeze the water. This dried the octopus out for three seconds and the battle got harder for there were now frozen pillars of ice to navigate around as well as creating more in the process to dry out the octopus.

This time the octopus exploded into purple smoke, the ice shattered and the water drained away.

The dome above them shattered but the glass evaporated so it didn't hurt them. The stars above were brilliant and breathtaking.

"That's what I wanted to show you guys" Aqua laughed

Link saw the mineral he needed and like before he used it to power up his sword.

They were then teleported to a platform high up in the mountains and came face to face with a giant fish,

"Lord Juba, Juba" Zelph gushed

"You have gained great strength in a short time, the both of you, be proud" Juba, Juba said grandly

"We couldn't have done it without Aqua and Zane" Link said modestly

"Humble, just what I expect of the Hero of Time" Juba, Juba said, "And you Aqua, your efforts shall not go unnoticed, nor shall Snork', the Zoras are very proud of you too!" Then to Link he added, "Activate the portals Link, I will send word to the King. It is time for you to leave this place and this country" There was a pause, "Don't look so sad you two, you may have a need to return to this place again in the future but until then may the Gods shine upon you"


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

 **Death Mountain**

Link and Zelph said goobye to Aqua and the other Zora' and Zora' Domian, retrieved Epona and headed back to Kokiri Village to catch up with Zane and bid farewell to Nanna and Mya.

"Do you have to go Link?" Mya asked with big eyes

"I do Mya but the Kokiri will look after you, I don't think I can take Epona with me to Rome, I certainly can't take her up Death Mountain or whatever that mountain is actually called" Link said, "Will you look after her for me?"

"Uh huh!" She nodded, suddenly feeling important,

"It is Death Mountain" Zane told Link

"Hey Zelda?" Mya said with a nudge, they stepped aside, "Will you take care of big brother for me?"

"Uh huh!" Zelph grinned, they giggled and shared a hug, "You are adorable"

"Right, you have the tickets for the flight?" Nanna asked

"I have, it's in three hours and Skit is driving us" Link replied

Link and Zane shared a look, Skit was leathal behind the wheel of a car.

After a few more goodbyes and a re-stock of supplies Link, Zelph and Zane were off to Rome. They had pleantly of time to ponder what was awaiting them as it was a 27 hour flight.

They had pleanty to talk about given their recent adventures and had a lot of questions for Zane about Nanna and Skit and the Skull Kid and Pip and Zane was only too happy to answer them all. Between this talk and their outfits the other passengers on the plane thought these three had gone mad or were heading for a convention.

Link and Zelph were asked for photos by a few people, who were actually going home from a convention. Link was tickled by this. Zane was only sad no one had asked him so Link had a word with the hostess who came over nervously and asked if she could get a photo with just Zane as she was a Hylian and a big fan of his kind. They got on great and Zane walked off the plane with the girl' phone number.

They realised that they had been awake for 51 hours and didn't think it wise to just head straight for the mirror leading to Kakoriko Village and Death Mountain so they instead found a hotel overlooking the Colesium and literally crashed out where they sat.

The following morning they were in for a great shock for from the view of the balcony they could see a ring cloud over Vesuvious and from the breakfast bar a lot of nervous talk about the fact the volcano has been overdue a massive eruption that could wipe out Rome for years.

The other thing that surprised them was the sight of a fellow guest, who was very familiar indeed.

"Borak!" Link called,

Borack was just as stunned to see Link,

"Yo! Brother what's up!?" Borak called, then making his way over to them he said, "See the state of Death Mountain? Yo, we got word and came straight here but you can't go anywhere near that place in those clothes, you'll fry"

"Shush. Not so loud, people in this place already think we're mad" Link said axioulsy

"Not here bro, this hotel is stictly for the people of Hyrule. Zoras come here for the entire stretch of winter sometimes you know; Hylians and even some Garudo. They can get a bit testy with the male staff here"

"Where's the mirror to Kakoriko Village?" Link asked Borak

"It's on a road about an hour's drive from Pompii. Bro that place is legit, Kakoriko is to the right of it and Death Mountain is to the fore; want a guide?" Borak replied, "We're going that way anyway"

Link looked at Zelph and Zane and then nodded at Borak.

Borak and his parents joined Link, Zelph and Zane at their table and discussed the events that had driven them to make the trip from America.

"There have been more and more quakes since you left, even one recorded in the UK, we thought the quakes caused the readings coming from Death Mountain and Vesuvious, Death Mountain sits over Vesuvious. Then we read the Hylian reports about the Forest Shrine, Hylia Shrine and the fact that the Shanklin is moving in the exact order you need to be going in to activate the portals and re-energise the Master Sword is a bit of a coincidence. I have a horrible feeling Shanklin has spies and is setting up a way to utilise the power of the minerals to break Demise' decsendant out of his seal. It's not often Demise reincarnates but when he does he's deadlier than he ever was before" Borak' father told them dramatically,

It sent shivers down everyone's spines.

"Is there a fire tunic?" Link asked

"It's not so much a tunic more a whole outfit, the top half and the arms are made up of a red heat proof material and dragon scales, it comes with a white heat proof shirt, red trousers and red boots with gold dragons embossed on them" Borak' father told him, "You can buy one in Goron City"

"We are not going to make the Hero of Time pay for a tunic so he can do what we can't" Borak said

"He may accept a deposit and then get you the money back if your return the outfit in one piece" Borak' mother said,

"Man, forget that!" Borak yelped

"Bargin with him then if you can't afford the outfit, though I do agree the Hero shouldn't have to pay for it, maybe if you do the Goran shop owner a favour he'll give you the outfit for free" The waiter interupted, they could tell from his hair that he was a Garudo, it was bright red, "Oh don't stare, once every 100 years a boy is born to the Garudo, boys are always telling me they think being surrounded by women is a great thing, it's not, it's a bloody nightmare, I ran away as soon as my legs could get the picture"

"My man!" Borak said fist bumping the waiter, "Sorry I slagged them off though, just what I heard is all"

"Don't be, they're dogs and thieves, all of them, look who their first King was? Though I should be careful about what I say, if I die anywhere near a female Garudo I'll come back as an Un-Dead and I'll be forced to live out the rest of eternity screaming my way around their Shrines"

"Never mind that, that's just one outfit, what about me?" Zelph asked in outrage

"You're not going up Death Mountain" The waiter said

"What would you know anout it? I never met you in my life and I did not sit on a plane for 27 hours to sit in a cave, twiddling my thumbs" Zelph huffed

"You don't get it, only the Gorons or the Hero is permitted to pass the gate out of Kakoriko, you're a Royal Hylian/Hi-Range, any one of you that visits the village in times of trouble must bless the Shadow Temple or the beast in the well will suck the life right out of you" The Waiter told her

"Oh that's actually true" Zane told her

Zelph looked absolutely terrified.

"What is this blessing? Why have I never heard of this before?" Zelph panicked

"It's a song, you'll find someone there who can teach it to you" Zane said mysteriously

Zelph worried about this task of hers the whole way there and couldn't apreciate her new surroundings at all. Not even Link could reasure her so he left her to her own thoughts and took in the view of Mount Vesuvious in the foreground,

"You think she's impressive wait until you see Death Mountain" Borak told him.

They were in one of two jeeps being driven by Borak' parents, along the road that lead to Pompii, then all of a sudden it vanished and there was a massive wall to their right, a clear water stream on the other side and a pefect lawn. They were closer to Hyrule Castle here too and Link imediately knew he was in a new part of the old Hyrule.

"A Hyrule segment, of course!" Link exclaimed, "Hey Zelda, maybe you'll meet Impa' descendant here"

Zelph pondered this as the jeeps stopped, they got out and were guided up some steps and onto a well trodden path that curved round until they reached a wall with vines and an arched gate, being guarded by a Goron.

"Halt" The Goron said, "What business do you have here?"

"Brother it is I Crunk, Millstone and Borack, we have brought the Princess Zelda with us and the Hero of Time, along with their guide, a Korki, Zane. Link has defeated two Anti-mineral guards, one in the Forest and one in Lake Hylia. Look at that mountain, that is not a normal eruption. The Princess is here to bless the Shadow Temple, Link and Borak are here for the Anti-Mineral"

"I'm sorry did he just throw me into the volcano?" Borak asked Link

"Uh huh" Link replied

"Yo that's cold" Borak said as the guard let them through.

"It'll be a good education for you Borak" His father told him.

"I'm the next Goron leader, well, I will be when I come of age...or graduate" Borak told Link.

This was a modern looking village with cobbles for paths from building to building, there was a schoolhouse, a windmill, a watermill, chickens ran free, lovely little cottages but old looking, and some were covered in vines.

There were three levels to this village, there was a library on the second level and an observations tower on the third.

On the far right a path lead to a graveyard and another lead to farmland. Zelph was drawn to the path leading to the graveyard.

"Do I know anyone in that graveyard Zane?" Zelph asked

"Very well" Zane replied, then to Link he said, "You should go and get your hands on a tunic, Zelph is safe with me"

"OK" Link said, "I'll call you if I need you"

"Link" Zelph called before Link could leave,

"Yeah?" He replied

"If I don't make it out of here alive..." She began

"Shut up" Link told her

"I love you" She finished

"Shut up" Link told her, "You're not going to die here, you're not aloud, I need you"

Zelph turned to smile at Link but he was making his way up the stairs with Borak and Borak' parents.

"Ready Zelda?" Zane asked

"I just need to know what to say or do, and who's in that graveyard?" Zelph said I question

Zane walked a stride behind Zelph as she followed the path to the Graveyard. There was a section for Royal tombs and one of those tombs was the resting place of her dear mother.

"Oh my God" Zelph gasped, tears welling, "Father told me he had no idea where my mother was buried and she's been here all this time, why would he lie to me?"

"She had the blood of the Godess in her veins but the hope that it would unite the old Shieka that live here in Kakoriko with those that went rogue, was banished. She was asked to choose between those of the Twiglight Realm and those of this town and she chose to protect this town so they killed her" Zane told Zelph

"That's horrible, she wanted them to be united, after all those years, how could generations of people just adopt the grudge of a small group?" Zelph questioned, "Zane, I don't understand, how does the Hyrule Royal Family connect with the Twilight?"

"There was a princess once, in the era of the Wolf, she was of the Twilight, she used Link at first but after seeing him defend and go into battle without a second thought, just to save the ones he loved she fell in love with him and wanted to help him save Hyrule and indeed her own Realm, a Realm he could not be a part of. He saved her and Zelda gave the Princess her piece of the Tri-Force. They defeated the one that had opressed her people and Ganondolf too, thus saving Link' world. Stunned by her true form this Princess played her love for him down, even his clear devastation of her return to the Twilight Realm. Hyrule no longer had a Royal family and so one day a baby was dropped off in Ordon, along with a note from this Princess. This baby had the blood of the Godess in her and could not survive in the Twilight. Wolf Link brought her to Hyrule. Wolf Link became the new King of Hyrule for that child and the Godess in her. Wolf Link had a son and that son was brought up by a knight of the last King, that boy was gifted with the powers to slow down time in order to defeat the monsters that still plagued Hyrule. He became that Princess' knight. This is where Calamity Ganon was created. The Hero of Time died trying to save Zelda right as she discovered her love for him was the key to activating the power of the Godness. She placed him in a resurrection shrine, he awoke with no memory at all. By this time Wolf Link was dead and Zelda had the throne. It was a long road but eventually he regained his strength and this time, with Zelda' help he succeeded but as we all know that beast will always come back we just never know when or how"

"So I'm of Twilight descent, another parallel to Wolf Link' time line" Zelph said

"That curse Demise placed on us will always bring the Hero of Time and the Royal family together" Zane told her,"

"In what way will my mother be able to teach me this tune? This blessing" Zelph asked

Zane took out his whistle,

"Link' not the only one, who can go back in time" Zane told her

While Zane and Zelph went back to when her mother was 18 Link and Borak had travelled up the dangerous path to Goron City. They had to constantly duck into alcoves as Gorons bounded down the path or bounced from great heights. Any that got in his parents way were grabbed and tossed onto another path, which annoyed these Goron' a great deal.

"OK, the mountain I get but what is up with these Goron'?" Link asked getting fed up with having to duck and dive,

"It's the Goron races tomorrow" Borak told him

"That's still going ahead?" Link asked in surprise, "The Zora' cancelled their diving competion this year"

"Even after what you did?" Borak asked

"Guess they don't want to take the chance until I've dealt with Shanklin"

"That's sad, I like that competition" He said, "Used to be open to everyone, I tried entering once, I dive bombed the pool and emptied it of Zora'" Link spat out the water he had just sipped at this comment,

"You're joking right?" Link asked in shock

"I wish he was" His father said, "Took a week to find everyone, they found three Zora' in Tazmania, one in Tyland and another four in Japan"

Link laughed the rest of the way to Goron City.

"Oh we can laugh about it now but it wasn't funny to the Zora' he shot out of the pool at the time" Borak' mother said with a shake of the head, "The shame of it, even if it was an accidenal overshot...what an overshot"

This only made Link laugh even harder.

Link loved the Goron City, it was surprisingly bright in here, what with a central sky light, the houses were built into the round walls and from the bridge they stood on you could see that it went on for miles in both directions, shops one side, a school and a medical centre and a hosptial and guards station on the other. There was also a great foutain in the centre of the ground floor with water that reached their height some four floors up.

"Oh this places is awesome!" Link exclaimed.

Borack pointed out the shop they needed; it was a fair distance off to the left.

"That's the shop we need"

"Great, let's go and meet him" Link said with a smile.

Link and Borak walked but Borak' parent' rolled ahead to the shop they needed to be in,

"Show off'" Borak complained

Link and Borak deliberately took their time and met and spoke with some of the Goran' going about their business. Borak followed Link' lead as he was a little awkward about his status here. Back at school he was just a regular kid.

Link and Borak were surprised to find that Borak' parent' were right about the shop owner, he wanted to charge Link 7,000 rupees for the outfit,

"You are having a laugh Mr, until a month ago I was a normal kid in Japan, at what point do you think I would have been able to collect that amount of money? Think about it, this is real life not a game, Rueies don't hide out in the grass or grow in human eating plant life" Link fumed

"Good luck up Death Mountain then" The shop owner said

"I'm the next leader of the Goron tribe and I say give him the outfit; he needs it!" Borak demanded

"Huh! Next leader not present leader, that leader doesn't know this one from Adam. Try again small fry!" The shop owner scoffed

"What if we did you a favour? What do you want? Please I need that outfit" Link said

"Hmm, I would like some hot spring water but the Volcano is blocked in places, the larva can't get to where it needs to, to heat it up, if you could get a barrel of hot spring water from the central point, down here I might concider giving you the outfit" The shop owner said

"Oh you...!" Borak began, steaming mad now

"Alright, we'll do it, no problem" Link told him

"How!?" Borak called as Link left the shop, "We can't go back in time, by the time we go back to the present the water will be cold"

Link didn't say a word until they were at the central point, the heat from the sun was glorious but the water was freezing cold.

"See that patch of dead grass over there?" Link asked pointing it out, "get some rocks together and a slate and start a fire underneath it"

Borak grinned,

Using a bottle Link filled up a barrel with cold spring water and he and Borak waited until the water boiled before sealing it tight and carrying it back down the moutain and through the city to the shop owner, who was stunned.

"This...this" He bagan, pouring the water over himself, "Is perfect!"

He whooped and jumped and danced around, bringing a long cue to the door of his shop,

"Uh outfit?" Link asked, "We had a deal"

"Oh, right, sure whatever, take it and go away, I don't care about that now I have the hot spring water, the only shop in the city with it, I'm rich"

Link and Borak looked at each other and then frowned as the Goron' in the cue behind them shoved them both out of the way and into nearby shelves.

Back down in Kakoriko Village Zelph was struggling to hold it together as she watched her mother do the blessing for them as Link' father looked at her from the gate leading to the path up Death Mountain, it was the tune for the Shadow Temple from Ocorina of Time and as she played, spirits came down from the sky, raining their light over the village and sealing the well.

When she was done she came over to Zelph and placed a hand on her cheek,

"Do not fret my child, the well has been sealed, the Godess' have blessed this plane once more, the dead shall sleep now, Canon will not get through this barrier" She said, then as Zelph sobbed in Zane' arms her mother addressed the Shieka, "If you need me I shall be with the Zora'"

"Wait" Zelph said,

"Yes my child? What is it?" She asked gently

"I...I am she, the time has come and I must learn that tune from you" Zelph said through sobs

"Zelda?" She asked in surpise, "But you are just 5, how can this be?"

"Do you not recognise me?" Zane asked her. "Link of our time is heading up Death Mountain now to defeat the Anti-Mineral and the people of this village look once again to the Princess"

"Where am I in this picture?" Zelph' mother asked, Zelph' tears were enough and she grabbed her into her arms, "Oh my brave girl! You must tell me everything, we can go to Impa' old home to speak"

And so to Impa' home they went and Zelph told her the whole story so far, everything she and Link had overcome to get here,

"Even now Link does not think himself worthy of the title; Hero of Time" Zelph finished

"His father' just like that, won't take an ounce of praise. Of course I will teach you that tune" Her mother reasured her.

Once again Zelph' mother played the tune for the Shadow Temple and played along with Zelph until she had it right.

As much as Zelph wanted to spend time with her mother she also had a sense of duty now and though breaking inside she left her still living mother and returned to a time without her in it.

Upon her return and exit of the graveyard she found that all the Sheika had gathered, she stood where her mother had and played the song, the well was sealed by the three Godesses and as she looked up at death mountain there was Link and Borak, on a cliff top watching her and smiling.

She smiled back, though tears rolled down her cheeks.

"I wonder what happened?" Link pondered as they turned to make they're way up to the Goron Srine

"Bro, her mother is buried in that graveyard, she's a Sheika, daughters of the daughter of the Twilight Princess Zelda gave the Tri-Force piece to" Borak told him, "She'd have had to learn the song from her for it to work" Link pulled a sympathetic expression, "Oh before I forget, you're going to need these" Borak said handing him some gold bracelets, "You'll be able to lift heavy stuff now like our trademark hammer"

"That's real too?" Link grinned, putting the bracelets on

"Yeah but I don't know where they put it last time" Borak told him honestly

"So where is the entrance to this place?" Link asked

"Inside the volcano itself" Borak told him

It was hard work climbing this volcano, between bolders falling, nasty mineral spiders with skulls for backs and the heat overall. Link was sure if it wasn't for the outfit he wouldn't just be dead he'd be nothing but ash by now.

Eventually they came to a path, blocked by a rock. Link looked at Borack, grinned and then simply picked the rock up and tossed it over his shoulder. They got hit by a huge wave of heat that forced them back a foot or two in shock but once they'd regained their composure they ventured onto the path.

It led them round and round, eventually coming out onto a platform just above the larva inside the volcano. Link was both afraid and in awe,

"Can't beat mother nature" Link commented

"No you can't" Borak said

"So, I'm guessing the Shrine is actually under the larva and with the danger of an eruption on Vesuvious too we need to be very careful" Link said

"Yep" Borak said, he was looking all about him, "I think we need to offer the gods the golden eggs that are up there on those pillars but how?"

Link looked up and saw that these eggs were switches that needed to be activated, he shot an arrow each at them but this didn't work as when as the second lit up the first went dark. Link frowned, took out his whistle and blew into it

"Zane, can you hear me? I need advice, I can't get the switches to activate long enough to light the symbol on the platform beneath me so we can get into the Shrine"

"I can hear you Link, if you play the song from windwaker, the one to create whirlwinds, then target the two switches, drop the pips you bought from Kokiri into the whirlwinds and you'll activate both switches at the same time" Came Zane' voice

"That' cool" Borak said, then to Link he added, "Do you remember that tune?"

"Down, left, right up or up, left, right, down" Link said, "Sorry, I can see the game controls in my mind, I know the tune, just have to figure it out on this thing"

It took Link less time to play this tune than it did the first one he had to play, he did so twice to create two whirlwinds, one between two targets, he then targeted the switches and dropped the pips so that they flew with the whirlwinds and activated all the switches at once.

Link and Borak took a step back as the Shrine rose up from under the larva, and they realised they were on the roof of it.

There was a horrible screech from far below,

"Someone' not happy" Link said,

They looked over a wall and piered down at two eyes in the larva,

"Oh man, that's our guardian, looks like he has something stuck in his head" Borak commented

Suddenly there was a bright light and a laugh and the dragon grew an armour and larger fangs, and spikes, "Yo, that's not good"

The dragon dived uner the larva and into the Shrine, shaking the whole place.

They found a way in under the symbol on the platform they were standing on and lowered themselves down onto a dark platform, lit up only by the larva at the very bottom.

The first thing Link did was use the whistle and the larva to light torches all around them so they could get a better layout of the Shrine.

There were several platforms and all of them were blocked. The dragon poked it's head out of the larva below and created a platform to cool the top of the larva and turn it in to rock before shaking the whole place, nearly knocking Link and Borak over,

"Link...Link can you hear me?" Came Zane' voice, "You need to bring the platform up to you by releasing the larva in the other rooms, don't worry if he cools it the levels will still rise a little"

Borak and Link nodded at each other and parted ways, Link went through the right door and Borak went through the left door.

Borak was faced with a floorless corridor but he couldn't hope to roll round it as it was too tight a space. There was a ladder on the wall leading up to a platform further along. He went back out of the corridor in hope of finding a jar of water or something but there was nothing. Then he went back into the corridor and started banging on the wall and the floor until he had four different sounds and taking a chance he drummed out the whirlwind tune, to his shock it worked and he side jumped into the whirlwind, riding it back and forth along the corridor until he could grab hold of the ladder and work his way up to a plaform above. He followed this round to just above the door and pushed a rock into the larva. He then swung down onto the ledge with the door leading out and rolled on one spot to generate the speed the rock needed, the rock heated up until it was picked up by the whirlwind and carried to the end where it then exploded and smashed the blockage.

The Dragon raged but did nothing as the larva poured down, tilting the platform below on one side.

Link had found a similar corridor but was slimmer than Borak and could sidle along a small gap to the ladder on the left wall. He followed this around until he found a rock he could push into the larva below. Once he'd done this he jumped down and created a whirlwind, targeting it to sit just above the rock and into the whirlwind he tossed a bomb that spun in circles as the rock was propelled along the corrdior and round to the left where the bomb exploded, clearing the blockage.

Link rushed out of the room to see what had changed and he and Borak watched the larva pour down and level out the platform. At this point the draggon broke out of the centre and cooled the larva pouring down both sides, before screeching, melting a pool for himself, diving under, cooling this and then ramming the wall once more,

Link and Borak stayed up on their feet but barely.

Now they had to get to the other side of the Shrine and there were no bridges for them. Link created a whirlwind and had Borak roll into it, he did and was propelled across the Shrine to the lower platform on the other side.

Link waited for the whirlwind to come back across before jumping off the barrier, into the whirlwind, hoping for the best. His scales caught the wind and he was also propelled across to the other side. Though a little too fast as he went smack, cheek first into the wall and slid down in shock.

"That really hurt"

"I felt that" Borak said giving Link some jelly hearts.

He needed three before he could even stand up.

This time they decided to stick together and ventured through the door on the left.

Here they found themselves trapped, with bars coming up from the ground. This area was grassy and would have been really pretty had it not been for the lit giant slugs on the ground.

"Oh I hate these things" Link said

They came after them, Link froze and then shot arrows at them but they stopped attacking after one and then two and then three blew up.

"Hold up, let's properlly look around, what if we had to use them to blast the blockage?" Borak asked

With difficulty they avoided the slugs and searched the room, hitting the walls for the one that sounded different. Link used a bomb but this made barely a scratch. Then he attacked a lit slug, froze it, picked it up and placed it by the wall, when it thawed out and blew up into purple smoke it took the wall down with it, revealing a path that dipped and went back around to the left.

Link and Borak followed it round until they found a larva stream that curved and stopped by the blockage, they then backed up and attacked the slugs, froze them, picked them up and tossed them at the blockage where they blew up into purple smoke.

As this blew apart allowing the larva to flow out Link and Borak figured they'd just be able to get back out of the room but they found that the bars were still there.

Link and Borak then destroyed the rest of the slugs revealing a small key and releasing the bars, allowing them out.

On leaving the room they saw that the platform was once again at a tilt and it did seem closer, but they couldn't be sure. The dragon screeched as they crossed the platform and used the key to unlock the door on the right.

Beyond this door they found more bars trapping them and came face to face with two spinning scarecrows. Borak used his dive bomb attack to stump one of the scarecrows, while Link used the hookshoot to take the head off the second and throw it at the fiirst. The head blew up and did some damage to the scarecrow that Borak had stumped.

The scarecrows let off a barrage of fireballs and caused two of eight pillars to crumble. Once they had stopped doing this and were just spinning in one spot Link and Borak swapped scarecrows. Borak stumped the second while Link grabbed the head off the first and threw it at the second. It blew up and did damage to the second. Now the two scarecrows combind into one and created a hole in the ground. Link saw the larva and then a with a look, Borak rolled around, trying to find the wall they needed to blast in order to find the blockage.

Once he had, Link used the hookshot to take the head off and throw it at the wall, blasting it. He then had to trick the scarecrow along the path, around him and into the larva stream just before the blockage before using the hookshot to take the head off and throw it at the blockage. This had the desired effect and the scarecrow exploded into purple smoke.

"Hey Link! Guess what I found; it's the hammer!" Borack called as Link got his breath back,

Link went back to Borack and lifted the hammer in the air before grinning at Borak. The two of them then left the room to see the platform level out.

Again the dragon melted some larva and flew up out of it before cooling the larva pouring in and diving back down, cooling that and then ramming into the wall, this hit did bring Link and Borack to the floor.

"It's because he's getting closer to us" Borak said, taking a jelly heart

"I think he's in pain because of the mineral on his head but we're going to have to hurt him even more if we want to get out of here alive and save Rome, not just Goron City and Kakoriko" Link observed

"I know but I feel bad about it man" Borak said

"Me too" Link said, "One more floor"

This time, Link found a grate he could hook on to and he had Borak shimmy down to it before climbing the bar and firing himself across the void. Link jumped down beside Borak and they looked around. They couldn't see a door anywhere but they could see two statues.

"Ocorina!" Borak and Link said at the same time.

Link went up to the statue on the right and used the hammer to smash it to pieces. This revealed a smaller statue. Link took a swing and smashed this one to pieces and a smaller statue appeared again. Li shook his head, smashed this up and then found a crack in the wall behind it. Here he placed a bomb and found the door.

"Someone did not want us to get into this room" Borak exclaimed

In the next room Link and Borak found a statue of a dragon, there were gold bars around it and instead of breathing fire it was breathing ice.

"Oh I know why, if this is moved, if this mouth is pointed in the wrong direction then you'll freeze the larva that keeps the Goron' alive but can we use it to stop Vesuvious erupting?" Link wandered. The eyes of the dragon glowed, "We're not ready for you yet, we have another dragon to take care of"

The eyes dimmed and Borak and Link passed it and found a small crawl space with larva flowing through it,

"This could be tricky" Link sighed

"You're skinny, I'll lean over and you can climb my back, onto the wall the larva is under, it doesn't effect me as badly as it would you, climb round and see what you can see" Borak suggested

Link nooded and used Borak to climb up onto the wall, he then carefully made his way around to the right where he found the blockage.

He used the hammer to smash part of it and then placed a bomb on the rest of it, edged his way back, then slammed the hammer onto the wall to cause a vibration that set off the bomb before being fired back across the room.

The hammer landed inches away from his delicate area and caused a look between Link and Borak,

Link shook his head and got up,

They had the same problem getting into the room on the left and here they found a dragon breathing fire, which they summerised would be for emergencies during a cold snap on Death Mountain.

Borak helped Link onto the wall this side and then burrowed through the crawl space beneath it. Link used the hammer first then got out of the way before calling out to Borak to spin and clear the blockage. He spun backwards so that he wouldn't end up on the platform below.

Link and Borack left the room and the battle began, the dragon forced them onto the platform by flying at them at speed. He then knocked them down by diving into the larva he melted in the middle of the platform.

Link and Borak really struggled to stay on their feet until a familiar voice sounded,

"Link! Listen! Stay crouched on the platform and find the dragon' point beneath, once you have it, use a combination of the dive bomb and hammer to force the dragon out of the larva. When he's up in the air shoot the glowing point with your arrows and when he falls use the hammer to break the armour created by the mineral!"

Link and Borak crouched around, as the platform shook beneath them, they worked out the where he was by hitting the platform, when it made a different sound Link used the hammer and Borak dive bombed to get the dragon to come up out of the larva.

Link waited to get the right shot as the dragon flew around in circles, dropping rocks at them and breathing fire and then brought him to the ground so he could crack the armour with his hammer. It took three rounds to break it and then they had to deal with the mineral.

"The arrows aren't working on it!" Link called out in a panic

"Use the ice breath, give him brain freeze" Came Zane' voice,

Link used the pips to turn the dragon blue in places so he stopped flying and just hovered, before looking up and shooting a switch that hid the ice breathing dragon. Link then used the arrows to shoot the direction the ice breathing dragon needed to be in until his ice breath shot the mineral, bringing the dragon crashing down and allowing Link to use the final blow, shattering the mineral and calming the dragon down.

It cried out in pain for several seconds and then bowed it's head as if trying to catch it's breath,

"Who did that?!"

Link and Borak felt awful,

"I'm really sorry but you were being overpowered by an anti-mineral stone" Link told him, terrified and sad at the same time

The dragon looked up and saw Link and Borak,

"I was? I'm sorry, did I hurt anybody?" The dragon asked

"We've had better days" Link said with a smile, "Though on a serious note it's woken Vesuvious, we need to stop it from eupting or they'll lose the whole of Rome, let alone pompii again, will you please tell us how?"

"Climb on my back" The dragon said

Link and Borak climbed onto the dragon' back and he flew with them, up through the ceiling of the Shrine, which opened out of him as he got close, then up through the summet of the volcano and out onto the ledge around it, where sat a map and four blue orbs,

"Do we just have to redirect the ice breath to those orbs?" Borak asked

"And then skyward so that it breaks through the mirror and cools the chambers of Vesuvius" The dragon said

Link and Borak turned the tiles so that they would activate the four orbs and then they used the hammer to hit the central button neither could sink on their own.

If they had been below they would have seen the ice breathing dragon turn and lay flat so the ice breath hit one of several blue pipes, the blue orbs were activated and an ice pillar shot up from the centre and beyond the sky above them.

Clouds appeared high above Vesuvious and ice rained down on just the summet alone, making everyone that could see it stop and stare in wonder at this strange twist of fate.

The dragon guard took Link and Borak back to the rooms with the elemental dragons in them, the one breathing ice and the one breathing fire. The ice breathing dragon was back in it' first position and on instruction Link placed his sword into it's mouth to power it up. He did the same with the fire breathing dragon and then they found themselves teleported to the roof where Link activated the portals.

"I will send word to the King, this portal will take you back to Zora' domain but if you or Borak need to return here one day then that platform will act as an elevator for you. Thank you again, may the God's shine upon you"

"How are we getting out of here now though? Could you maybe give us a lift back down Death Mountain, maybe just to the city" Link asked

Link got his wish and found the shop keeper waiting for him and Borak, he looked far from pleased with them,

"I don't know what you did but now everyone in Goron City has hot spring water in their shops, I want the outfit back or payment for it"

"You'll have to catch him first you ungrateful, grumpy little rat" The dragon guard snapped before grabbing Link with his foot and flying him down to the etrance to Kakoriko Village,

"Yo, that's savage" Borak laughed before running from the shop keeper.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

 **Two Races and Three more Link'**

Link was anxious to catch up with Zelph and Zane and knocked on every door until he found them in Impa' old house on the other side of the farmland in Kakoriko Village.

"Hey" Link said as he was let into the house by a guard, Zelph stood up and the two ran to each other for a long hug, "He can let that slide, I'm so glad you're OK Zelda" Then looking at her he added, "I want to know everything but first" He looked at Zane, "Can we maybe stay here a day? The Goron Races are on tomorrow and I really want to watch"

"Sure, I need to have your white tunic sent for and arrange the flights to Switzerland anyway, can't do either at this hour" Zane told him

"Awe, I want to see that" Zelph sighed

"You can, if it's for an event they'll let you through, everyone at the Village is welcome and the tourests that know how to find us, as long as they're Hylian, Zora, Korki, Goron, Yeti or Garudo" Zane said

"Yeti!" Zelph and Link exclaimed

"Yeti'; they're cool...excuse the pun" Zane said with a cough

"How long is the flight?" Link asked, dreading the answer

"Only 1 hour and 50 minutes if that" Zane told him

"Oh!" Link said in surprise, then seriously he added, "You know, it felt like the taking over of the guardian of the minerals up on Death Mountain was a last minute thing, like if we hadn't gotten here when we had the guardian would have died and been replaced by some beast"

"You're right" Zane told him.

"So what became of the other two? The guardians of the Forest Shrine and the Hylian Shrine" Link asked

"They warped to the safety of the spiritual springs, leaving behind the mierals you'd need but locking them away until the anti-mineral' had been dealt with" Zane told him.

After a catch up with Zelph, a bath to ease his aching muscils and a change of clothes; his now preferred choice being that of the hero' outfit, Link and Zelph took a wonder around Kakoriko Village itself, they broused in the shops and Link bought some flowers for Zelph' mother' grave, which moved Zelph very much.

Upon leaving the graveyard they caught up with Borak.

"Oh, you're still here, good, I was worried I wouldn't get a chance to say goodbye after our guardian swept you away and then I had to deal with the shop keeper and fill in my parents about how it went" Borak said, "Anyway, the bottom line is I bought the outfit"

"What? I'll pay you back somehow, that's too much" Link said

"I won't hear of it Link, you saved my city, you saved this Village and Rome even, a heat proof tunic is the least I can offer you. Look, I'm sorry I couldn't tell you who I was, I get embarrassed about it really, how can I run a city? You could" Borak replied

"Don't sell yourself short Borak, you'll make a great leader" Link told him

"How long till you go?" Borak asked, "I'm heading back after the races tomorrow"

"We'll be here another day at least...could Zelph and I and Zane come to the races tomorrow?" Link asked

"Of course, everyone' invited to the Goron Races!" Borak grinned.

The following morning Link, Zelph, Zane and the people of Kakoriko Village, plus a whole load of Zoras and Hylian made their way up the now quiet and still Death Mountain, up to Goron City and then along a path that had been closed off yesterday. This lead to a massive auditorium that sat high above a maze like track that was on several levels. There was a start post at the top and a finish post at the bottom. To Link' surprise Borak had arranged for him, Zelph and Zane to sit with him, his parents and the current leader.

He wasn't sure how he managed it but Link found and made eye contact with the shop owner from Goron City. The shop owner made a gesture to say he was keeping his eye on Link. Link shifted uncomfortably,

"Who's that?" Zelph asked Link

"The grumpy shop owner from Goron City. He had me bring him some hot spring water before he'd give me tunic, then because we unblocked the larva streams heating up the water so everyone could get their hands on some he wanted the tunic back or payment for it in full. The Gaurdian snatched me up, told him he'd have to catch me first and flew me down to Kakoriko" Link told her

Zelph laughed.

After a speech by the current Goron leader the race began. It was unlike anything Link or Zelph had ever seen before. Zane was in his element. The multi-level maze that the Goron' were racing around could be tilted and altered by other Goron' and tricks were a must. Not only did the Goron' have to get to the finish post in an allotted time but they had to outsmart each other on the way.

It was one of the most exciting things Link and Zelf had ever seen, they only wished Nanna, Skit and Mya had been here to see it too. Zane secretly filmed the race and sent it to Nanna to show it to the Kokiri. Skit was hooked.

"That was amazing!" Link exclaimed to Borak as the race ended

"It is, I'm stoked, this is the first time I've seen this race live, I've always been in class and seen it on mum' phone later on" Borak told Link and Zelph as they all started to head down some stiars either side of the multi-layerd maze, "There'll be a chance now to meet the participents and then everyone moves on to Goron City for a party, everyone' invited"

To Link' great surprise the Goron' bowed at Link as well as Borak and Zelph and then Zane got a shock when Borak informed the Goron' that raced that it was thanks to Zane that he and Link were able to assist the Guardian and they bowed to him too. After some gushing from both sides Link, Zelph, Zane, Borak, his parent's and the current leader of the Goron tribe headed to Goron City.

Once at the city Borak acted as a tour guide for Link and Zelph, taking them to all his favourite places, the hot springs falls, and bar was their first port of call. Borak explained that there were two types of hot spring water, the kind you could drink to heal wounds and the kind you could bathe in, it was known to ease hindering emotion such as heartache and anger, to help you see things clearly or let things go. Hot spring falls had a sky light and two hot spring falls going down a curved wall, running into a shin deep pool, with benches built into it. Borak then took them to the five teer park, a mix of glass walls, perfect lawns and tiny falls of water flowing down from the fountain at the very top and flowers Zelph had never seen before,

"Oh be careful of those ones, they're bomb flowers, as long as we have spring water, hot or cold we'll have bombs" Borak told them.

They explored all three teers along with other Gororn, Zora, Hylian and Sheika before heading down to the adventure centre you could see behind a large glass wall. It was here, Borak explained that the Goron' practiced for the races throughout the year. They even ran a round before they finally went to join Zane, who was face timing Skit, who wanted Zane to grab a hold of a Goron Racer for him so he could ask him all about the races.

The music was a mix of drums and chanting joyful anthems and dancing and Link loved every second of it.

Once the party was dying down Borak offered to walk Link, Zelph and Zane back down to Kakoriko Village,

"Borak, I need to say this, you never gave me the time of day before. You're not like this at school. I feel like a friend today and I don't have many, so if you're going to ignore me when we get black let me know now so I don't take it to heart" Zelph said

"Zelph, no one is themselves in Highschool. It's because you're a Royal, thee Royal and it's intimidating. Do you think I'd have any real friends if they knew I was the next Goron leader? No, do I care, a little. Difference is this is real life, this right here, Highschool should be about learning, honing in on life skills that are going to help you achieve your goals in life or if those goals are hard to reach then honest ways of earing your bread, yo, half these people that mock you, you aint never going to see again after you graduate. We shouldn't be worried about what our neighbour in class assumes we're like away from school. We should be thinking about where we want to go, educating our forefathers about matters they spit hate about. After yesterday girl, I aint never going to ignore you again"

Zelph was moved to tears as Borak hugged her,

Link looked at Borak with the upmost respect.

They were now at the entrance to Kakoriko Village. They said their goodbyes and Link, Zelph and Zane headed back to Impa' old house, where the guard informed them that the white tunic' had arrived along with some gloves, white trousers and white boots. Link loved this outfit but he couldn't ware it here for long, it was way too hot.

The following morning Link, Zelph and Zane left Kakoriko village, travelled back to the main airport in Rome and caught a plane to Switzerland.

They weren't sure what to expect when they got there, they knew the mirror was close to where they were staying but they had no idea what direction to go in. Link and Zelph loved their new abode, it was a three roomed half wood half glass igloo with snow as far as the eye could see. It had underfloor heating and reminded Link of home with it's oriental appearance.

Link was in his white tunic now, Zane pointed out a feature to Link that would regulate the temperature of the garments he was waring so that he didn't overheat or get hypothermia. It was the same for his own outfit and Zelph'.

They were in the living area drinking tea when Link noticed some movement outside by the woodland, out of the corner of his eye. He stood up and walked across to the glass to pier out,

"What is it?" Zelph asked

"I thought I saw something...I did see something; it looks like a bear but it's got ski gear" Link said

"Ah! I was hoping word would get out to them" Zane said, getting up, "That'll be one of the yetis, the mirror must be through the woodland"

"Let's go" Link said.

Link, Zelph and Zane went out to the edge of the woodland with caution, so not to frighten the Yeti but they needn't have worried, the minute he saw Link' sword he came bounding over to him and gave him a bear hug, which nearly crushed his ribs.

"Everything will be OK now!" The Yeti gushed as he put Link down, "You have to come quick, he's been missing for two days now!"

"Uh, sorry, I'm confused, who' missing? I'm here to get the mineral update for the Master Sword and deal with anything else that waits for us in the Cavern of Frost"

"Master Sword?" The Yeti blinked, "You're Link?! I'm sorry I don't have my glasses on today, I followed my nose up here, see my brother went missing two days ago and we called for help but all the Hylian knights they sent from Hyrule castle either got eaten or lost, I thought you were one more, you're the only one with a sword"

The Yeti started crying,

"Don't cry, look, take me to your father or leader or whomever you need me to see, I may not me able to find your brother on my own but I know where I can get some help" Link told him

"Oh...thank you, we live at the bottom of the sled lines, there's a race on today so we'll have to find another route down" The Yeti sniffed

"Alright, then what are we waiting for? Let's go" Link smiled

With a lot of sniffling and shuffling of huge feet the Yeti found a slope for himself, Link, Zelph and Zane that they could go along, that wasn't being used for the race.

None of them, apart from the Yeti, had ski gear so Link used his sheild and Zelf and Zane used bits of bark the Yeti ripped off a tree to snowboard down. This path criss-crossed the race at times and even joined it at one point.

It was exciting and terrifying at the same time for Link, Zelph and Zane as there were some very high drops and Link knew that unlike the game if he fell down there he wasn't getting back up again.

Link, ducked, dived, swirved and jumped his way down the path, even competing with the Yeti unintentionally, who felt able purly for the fact that Link was going to help him and he could forget his sadness momentarily.

Zane was a pro at this but was a little behind. Something that he hid from Link and Zelf was he had wings so if he did fall he it didn't matter that much, he could just find a new piece of bark to snowboard with.

Zelph sreamed her way down and ended up in a tree, causing Link and the Yeti to double back to check on her,

"Are you OK Zelph?" Link asked

"Sorry, I guess I kind of got a little competative there for a second" The Yeti said, she laughed at this and they waited for Zane to catch up, "It's not much further"

"You know what? That last patch doesn't look as dangerous as the parts we've just run, why don't we have a little race of our own?" Link suggested

The Yeti, Zelph and Zane looked at each other and then smiled at this idea; they lined up and after the count of three they raced down the rest of the path. To their surprise they met the real race as they came off the bottom of the path they were on and ended up winning the whole thing.

"We have a new winner!" Cried the commentator, grabbing Link and Zelph and then Zane and the Yeti, "We don't usually have Hylian' enter our races but alright, what're your names?"

"Uh!" Link began

"Just take it" Zane grinned

Link laughed, embarrassed as he, Zelph, Zane and the Yeti were given medals and a chance to hold a gold cup that had a Yeti on it and the Tri-Force.

"This is Link" The Yeti told the commentator

"I know" The commentator said with a look at the Yeti as though he were going mad,

"No, you don't get it, look at the sword, he's here for the mineral update and he says he can help find my brother" Yeti told him,

The commentator looked at Link in surprise

"You are the Hero of Time? Our Link?" He asked, Link nodded and smiled, then to Zelph he said, "Then you must be Princess Zelda!"

Zelph smiled at him.

"We weren't trying to win the race Gramps, we were trying to get back to the manor" Yeti said

"Oh...oh well the crowd has gone now, I didn't like the one that would have won anyway, he always wins" Then to Zane he said, "I believe we've met before; Zane isn't it?"

"That's right" He said

After a photo for the Hyrule News report the commentator and the Yeti led Link, Zelph and Zane to the manor, which was the abode for the Mayer of town. He was in a meeting when they arrived and at first was less than pleased to be bothered by the Yeti. Link could hear him being told off and felt sorry for him. The Yeti they had met was a much smaller and sadder Yeti now as he came out of the office with his father, where Link, Zelph and Zane were waiting in the large but very cold lobby.

"This had better be good!" They Mayer yelled and then he saw Link, "Oh you're..."

"Link, really I'm here to ask for permitted access to the Cavern of Frost, my Master Sword is strong but not quite strong enough yet to deal with Shanklin and if he's successful, Cannon, however we had no idea how to get down here until your son found us, he thought we were more rescue workers, said your other son is missing, I can help you if you let me" Link said

"He..." The Mayer began and then looked at the Yeti, "You went out to find your brother on your own"

"I'd do it again and I believe this knight when he says he can help" The Yeti told him

The Mayer looked at Link,

"Look, things have taken a strange turn at the Cavern lately, there are monsters at every turn. I don't want anyone else going near that place, I appreciate your determination and your offer of help but I won't lose another Hylian to them, I'd sooner face the fact that my son is gone than deal with that"

"I have to get that mineral upgrade" Link said

There was a silence,

"If you can do what I say you can't I will give you the directions and access to the Cavern of Frost" The Mayer said,

They Yeti followed Link, Zelph and Zane outside to the front entrance of the manor.

There was a woodlands on the right side and a quarry on the left.

"Which way was your brother going the day he disappeared?" Link asked

"He said he was going into the woodlands, he said he was being drawn by a beautiful sound" The Yeti told Link

"What're you going to do Link?" Zelph asked

"I'm going to call on a little bit of the power from the Master Sword...Wolf Link! I need you!" Link said before he drove the sword into the snow covered ground and a purple light left it, transforming into Wolf Link "Meet, Wolf Link"

Everyone stared at him in shock,

"That's brilliant, he can use his doggy sences to locate my brother" The Yeti said

"Have you anything that belongs to him?" Link asked. The Yeti nodded and took out a book belonging to his brother, Wolf Link sniffed it for a couple of seconds, "Have you got it?" Link asked

Wolf Link barked and turned full circle one time before grinning and darting off after the scent.

Link, Zelph, Zane and the Yeti had to hurry to keep up with him.

Wolf Link took them right through the woodland and out into a clearing where they were suddenly trapped by barriers of fire,

"The woodland!" Yeti cried

"Bongo!" Called a frightened voice from high up

Everyone looked up to find the missing Yeti up in a tree house, scared out of his mind.

"Jerry!" Bongo called

"Look out!" Jerry called back

Suddenly there were more barriers and Wolf Link and Link were trapped in a different section to everyone else, having walked toward the cetre without realising it.

Three Skelfos and two shadow beasts appeared, from out of the ground and up above. Link and Wolf Link dealt with these by targeting and using a spin of the sword and tail before Wolf Link then called Minda to him. She appeared and sat on his back.

"Alright, alright I heard you the first time" She said tapping Wolf Link on the head and making him tell her off with a growl. Minda gave her trademark giggle "Looks like he might have use for you here eh boy?" She continued, tugging at Wolf Link' ears.

Jerry climbed down from the tree to Bongo, where the two talked at once about their experiences, which were completely different to one another,

"We should get back and hope the Mayer let's us have access to the Cavern of Frost" Zelph said

"The Cavern of Frost?" Minda said in question before whining, "Awe, Wolf Lik won't need his paws for that" Wolf Link looked up at Minda, "You want to help them don't you boy? Maybe you want to do what you came here to first though huh? We didn't jump out of that sword because he asked nicely now did we?" There was another giggle. Wolf Link got up on hind legs and put paws to palms with Link.

Link felt dizzy as he was transported elsewhere, Zelph worriedly calling his name, "Oh don't worry I'll get your prescious hero back in one piece"

Link found himself in the same space he had been when he met his father and three other Link' of the past, now here before him were Shade Link, Human Wolf Link and BOTW Link. Of the three Link felt this last one looked very serious.

"Thank you for calling me out of the sword Link, I needed to stretch my legs" He said to Link

Link laughed the thanks off.

"You're all here to teach me three more skills aren't you?" Link said in question

"These skills were always there, you inherited them from us" BOTW Link told him

They all stood around Link and like before the one teaching him stepped forward and the others stood back a little further.

"Jump attack" Shade Link said, "Come at me from two heights, the floor and that ledge behind you"

Link turned to see the ledge in question and nodded. Link and Shade Link bowed to one another before Link targeted him and did a jump attack, knocking him backwards, "Very good Link"

Shade came after Link and Link dodged him and got up onto the ledge; then when Shade Link turned away Link jumped off the ledge and drove his sword down Shade' back knocking off the armour and revealing his green tunic.

Shade Link stepped back and Human Wolf Link stepped forward,

"Side step" Human Wolf Link said

Link nodded and he and human Wolf Link stood before each other, ready for battle and when it looked like human Wolf Link was about to strike Link side stepped, got round and hit human Wolf Link in the back, knocking him to his knees.

Human Wolf Link smiled at Link as he turned around before stepping back.

Finally BOTW Link stepped forward,

"Reflective strike, you will learn stasis eventually but until it comes naturally, if you need it, call on my power" He said

BOTW Link threw a rock at Link and he reflected it back to hit him in the arm. Next BOTW Link threw a fire arrow and Link reflected this, lighting the grass on fire. Finally BOTW Link used the fire to create severl balls and threw these at Link. Link relfected them so they came for BOTW Link, forcing him to duck.

BOTW Link bowed and smiled before stepping back.

"If you have need for any of these in the future just focus on said skill and trust it will come to you" He said and just like that Link was back in the clearing with Bongo, Jerry, Zelph and Zane.

"Link! Are you OK?" Zelph almost screeched

"I am, let's get these directions and access to the Cavern" He said

"What about Wolf Link?" Zelph asked

"His spirit may be in the sword but his DNA is a part of me" He told her, "I know now why I had to be tested"


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

 **The Cavern of Frost**

Link, Zelph, Zane, Bongo and Jerry were in for a shock when they arrived back at the manor because the whole place had been trashed and there was a barrier around it now that only they could get through. They Mayer' office was empty apart from a note Link took from an upset Jerry that read; You knew what would happen.

"That's what the meeting must have been about, he was going to try and fight off whatever is in the Cavern of Frost by himself, this is from the King" Link said, "Jerry, Bongo, where is this cavern?"

"There's a map in dad's safe" Jerry said

"I don't know the combination" Bongo said

"I do" Zane replied

Zane opened up the safe and found a map in it but the map had been smugged by some form of liquid.

"What can we do now?" Link asked

"Wait a second" Bongo said, taking the map, "This is a trick, if we take it beyond the mirror then we should be able to read it"

"That's genus" Zelph said, "But we're at the bottom of a massive slant, how're we getting back up?"

"It's a bit tiresome if you're not used to it but we have steps built into the rock, how else do you think the Yeti' got up to the start line for their race?" Bongo said,

"Can't believe you won and I missed it" Jerry said sadly

"We didn't mean to win it at all, we were just trying to get down here to find you" Bogo told him

"Did you get the prize still?" Jerry asked

"Yeah!" Bongo said with an infectious laugh

Link, Zelph and Zane told Bongo and Jerry that it was probably best they stay put as they had no idea how long it'd take them to save their father, if they could even do that and someone needed to run things. Link told them that rather than only one of them taking the strain for the Yeti settlement that they should both stand by each other and work together to reasure the other Yeti' living nearby.

As Link, Zelph and Zane left to make the long journey back up to where their cabin was Bongo and Jerry felt more important than they ever had done before.

The view that awaited Link, Zelph and Zane was just awe inspiring. Link had always wanted to see the Northern Lights and now he was going to be lying beneath them.

Even if the map had been readable right away Zane told them it'd be foolhardy to try and find it now. Link agreed with some reluctance, he didn't like waiting when someone was in trouble but here his hands were tied.

The three of them sat round the table in the dining area staring at the map, trying to make sense of it until finally they gave up and went to bed.

In the middle of the night Zane was woken up by a sparkling light and was surprised to find Tattle buzzing over Link.

"Hey! Wake up!" He was saying

Tattle got a shock when Zane grabbed him in his hands and took him to the table in the dining area,

"Shut up Tattle, we can't go anywhere until morning" Zane said letting him go, "Besides, the map is unreadble even if it is dry now"

"Unreadable to Hylian and Korki, you dummy, you need a Yeti" Tattle told him

"Then I'll give one a call" Zane said taking out his phone,

"What the heck is that?" Tattle asked

"A phone" Zane told him.

By now Link and Zelph were awake, Link was wondering why his door was wide open when he saw Tattle hopping up and down in front of Zane,

"What the...?" He began

By now Zane had gotten a hold of Bongo and was face-timing him,

"Hey! Listen!" Tattle screeched

Link wriggled his finger in his left ear, it was vibrating from Tattle' yelling.

Zelph giggled at this and then every time Tattle told her off there after,

"That's my line Tattle, shut up will you?!" Zane snapped, "OK Bongo this is the map, can you give us directions based on what you see?"

"I can...oh no" Bongo said, "You need to go back through the woodlands and pass the clearing, keep going until it dips and takes you out onto the other side of the quarry or quarry 2, it's there that the Cavern is based. There are a number of tricky trials in there even without monsters to deal with"

"Like what?" Link asked

"The maze of glass, Ice and Mirrors, and the balance blades for one, the Freezards guard that room and then there's the traps that could freeze you or the people around you for several seconds" Bongo told Link, "I've no idea which area dad will be in or what kind of state he'll be in when you find him...if you find him"

"Thank you Bongo, I'll bring him back don't worry" Link said

For the rest of the night Link and Zelph grilled Tattle about his sister and the land of Termina, then at first light he disappeared and Link, Zelph and Zane made for the Cavern of Frost.

The path there was a treturous one, they opted for the steps and realised how dangerous they were going down, wondering how it could have seemed much safer the previous night going up.

There were Ice Keets waiting for them, that took Link and Zelph by surprise. These creatures tended to act like normal bats so to see them in the daylight was a shock.

After Zane got frozen Link stood still to listen and then used his bow and arrows to shoot down any remaining Ice Keets nearby.

Zane just shook his head after unfreezing. Freezing didn't do damage but it was an uncomfortable experience for them.

It was mid day before they reached the clearing they had been in the day before.

Link honed in on Wolf Link' sneses and everything to his vision became infered. He used this to see Wolfoes and took them out with his bow. The first two cried out as they died and blew up into purple smoke and Link got a shock when the third appeared from nowehere and pounced on him, knocking his senses out of whack. He used his sword and the Wolfoes blew up into purple smoke with the same cry as the others.

Link stood up to check on Zelph and Zane but couldn't see them anywhere. Then he looked up and laughed to find them both up a tree.

"Come on!" He called, "The woodland' safe now at least"

"You're eyes went funny" Zelph said as she climbed down

"Did they?" Link asked with wonder.

On they went until they finally came across Quarry 2 and found the route down to the entrance of the Cavern of Frost.

Here they were parted and Link was faced with two shadow beasts. Link grinned at them and did a spin attack on them, then three more showed up, Link delt with these too, coaxing one then attacking the other two. Five then turned up and circled around him,

"Link! Look out!" Zelph cried

"You asked for it!" Link spat, "Wolf Link hear me, see me, be me!"

Suddenly with a flash Link was now Wolf Link and this time the shadow creatures were destroyed. Wolf Link growled, there was another flash and Link returned to normal, leaving Zelph stunned. Zane was used to all of this,

"What happened?" Zelph asked

"There is a difference between calling on the power of the Master Sword and needing it's strength, Link can focus on the power within the sword to battle with Shanklin and Cannon if need be, once the sword has all of it's upgrades that is. However if he comes into a situation that requires one of the skills obtained by a forefather then he can used the sword to summon that power. In this instance he realised that without Wolf Link nearby or in spirit those Shadow Beasts were just going to keep on coming" Zane explianed

"But I don't know if that was a test or if Shanklin is getting stronger" Link said

"No, that was a test, it was of the twilight and they have no quarrel with us, it is the old Shieka they dispise" Zane told Link

"Don't remind me" Zelph sighed

Link and Zelph searched the area for switches to open up the cavern, eventually realising, after finding nothing but fallen rocks that the rocks themselves must be concealing the switches. Link used up five bombs, eventually locating the two switches they needed. There was a metal grate covering them that took the three of them to lift each time before Zelph stood on one and Link stood on the second.

The cavern opened up and blasted them with cold air.

"We'd be dead right now if it wasn't for these tunic' wouldn't we?" Link summerised

"Very much so" Zane said

With that they ventured into the Cavern of Frost.

After going through a short tunnel a door shut on them that they couldn't open again and they found themselves in a maze, there were mirrored walls, ice walls, glass walls and glass doors.

"Oh woe!" Link said

Suddenly a Freezard appeared on the other side of a glass wall on the left so Link, Zelph and Zane went right, summerising that if they went forward chances were they'd be in the same space as the Freezard. Link needed fire arrows and he had none.

Through the next door they encountered a Wolfoes. Once this was dealt with they ventured through the door in the centre but this led to a trap. The snow beneath their feet melted and Link, Zelph and Zane dropped into a pool of cold water.

From here they were warped back to the start.

The freezard was now in front of them, breathing on the glass door and cracking it. Link, Zelf and Zane went through the same door they ventured through at the start and then smashed the glass wall to get into a new section of the maze, they followed this around until they found blue fire and a gold glove, realising that if they wanted to progress they were going to have to use it to melt some of the ice walls.

Once they had the blue fire they made their way back towards the start, paying great attention to what was beyond the ice walls. They got it wrong once or twice, there were a number of bats behind one and then a sheer drop of about 20 foot to another level of the cavern behind the other.

"I so do not want to go down there" Link gasped

The only ice wall left was the one by the entrance but the entrance was now ocupied by a Freezard, forcing them to find another route around. After smashing three glass walls and melting one they found the a smoother route around the maze. As they followed it they were scared by several Freezards that couldn't actually get to them and Ice Keets or Bats flying at walls to get to them. Finally they found the door leading out of this maze but what awaited them was even tougher.

In the next room they had to deal with spinning blades that had four switches on them but also waiting for them were frozen enemies. One foot wrong and they would be dead.

There was a chest in the centre platform and on the ceiling a switch that had ice over it so without fire arrows it couldn't be activated and Link, Zelph nor Zane could be sure what it would actually do Would it help them or hider them?

Link jumped up onto the first blade and tried to balance, Zelph then jumped onto the second and Zane the third. They all fell off and had to shuffle back to the start of the room because if they moved an inch the blades would have surely got them.

They tried again, this time leaving time for the one jumping and the one on the blade already to balance propperly.

Once they had it, they had a new problem,

"Three of us, four switches" Zelph said

"What Link able to create statues of himself?" Zane asked

"Majoras mask!" Link said and he closed his eyes while remembering the tune he needed to play, "Got it!" He said, opening his eyes and taking out his whistle.

He fell painfully as he created his double and nipped his shins. He got onto his back and shuffled back to the door before jumping on the last blade and activating the switch to release the chest.

The blades still turned though and Link had to create another version of himself so he could walk across to the platform.

Inside the chest he found fire arrows. He smiled and used one to shoot at the ice covered switch above, this stopped the blades turning but it also unfroze the enemies, these were all freezards that Link had to use his sheild to reflect back. This froze them once more, allowing Link the time he needed to shoot them with his fire arrows and melt them away.

Once he'd gotten all three the platform in the centre and the blades sank into a hole that appeared beneath them.

Zelph and Zane nearly fell into it until Link helped them up onto the platform with him.

In this next room there were silver diamonds dotted around at various heights and three doors, two were locked, the other had bars on it.

A noise came from the diamond Zelph touched and they realised they had to get all of them, working together to get to the ones that were higher up but then a ticking sound occurred and they realised there was a time limit.

When the time ran out three pieces of the floor disappeared beneath them, making it harder to get to the diamonds.

This time they pictured the route around the room before setting off the timer and with a bit of team work they got it right, the bars came down, allowing them access to one of the three rooms.

In this room Link, Zelph and Zane found a number of armless knights, all frozen to the spot,

"Because this doesn't feel like a trap at all" Link said sarcastically

"Don't unfreeze them yet" Zane said, "Can't you hear that?"

They listened,

There was a shuffling sound coming from beneath their feet and suddenly a huge lizard like creature with tenticles that froze everything they touched crashed up out of the floor with an almighty screech.

"OK Link, you need to use his own powers against him and the fire arrows" Zane told Link

Zelph and Zane had to duck befind one of two pillars while Link deflected the ice breath from the mouths on the tenticles and then while the whole creature was frozen use the fire arrows to melt it.

He had to do this twice more before before it worked and a chest appeared in it's place, within which was a key.

Link, Zelph and Zane left the room and looked at either locked door, then they each took the key to take in the details of it against the details on the locks.

"I think it's this one" Zelph said going up to the door on the right,

It worked and Link, Zelph and Zane ventured into the next room. This one had a number of ice blocks dotted around and holes in the floor and rocks in other places.

There was a ledge up at a weird angle and the blocks had to be moved in a particular order. Block one had to be moved forward, then right, right again, then forward and left one; then the second block, which was larger, had to be moved right and then forward to meet the first block.

Both blocks needed the three of them to move it and they kept slipping and falling on the ice themselves as they did this, nearly ending up in the pit below a few times.

Eventually they got it but they were so tired by this stage they had to take a break on the first of the two blocks to get their strength back.

"This Cavern in hard work" Zelph sighed

Link and Zane nodded in agreement and then they stood up with difficulty and climbed up onto the next block and then up onto the platform where they found a rusted switch.

Link had to use the Goron hammer to activate it and although it released the bars to the platform across the other side of the room it also caused stalictites and icicles to rain down from the ceiling.

Now they had a bigger problem, both blocks were by the wall and couldn't be pulled; they needed them on the other side of the room now.

"What if we leave the room to reset the blocks?" Link asked

"No, do that and it'll deactivate the switch" Zane told Link, "Use the Goron hammer to smash one of the blocks up and see if it get's replaced"

Link nodded and slammed the hammer into one of the blocks and the block was sent back to the very spot it started from.

The same thing happened with the second block and the task of moving them started again. This time to get to a chest and while doing this a number of bats and Ice Keets appeared and these had to be dealt with before they could carry on with the task.

Link got annoyed at this point and in his anger managed to destroy a block, forcing them to start again. Zelph and Zane were not happy about that at all.

Link gave them a sorry look and they set to work once again on moving the blocks around to get to the chest. This time they got it and found the key to what would be the last room, inside it.

Before they could leave this room bars went up at the doors and a Whizrobe appeared. While Link dealt with him, Zelph and Zane had to fight off everything he summoned.

Link knew what this meant. The Shanklin was gaining powers and the Cannon' waking was looking evermore likely .

Link took a few hits from the enemies summoned while trying to deal with the Whizrobe but he took them like a hero and cocentrated on finding the Whizrobe, targeting and shooting it with fire arrows. He'd used ice arrows in this fight and normal arrows, even bomb arrows but the fire arrows seemed to have the biggest effect and finally after about 6 hits with the fire arrows Link got him and the room was cleared.

The bars came down and Link, Zelph and Zane could leave the room.

Link, Zelph and Zane stood before the door leading to the last room and stared at it for a few seconds,

"I'm slightly more nervous about this one than I was the last" Link said seriously

"This place is charged with power" Zelph commented

"That's what I mean, this is scaring me now, we have been getting the upgrades, we've been defeating the Anti-Minerals so how is Shanklin obtaining that power?" Link asked

"I have one theory and if I'm right than our next stop will have to be the Garudo Desert" Zane said

Link and Zelph stared at Zane in shock.

Finally they unlocked the door and stepped inside.

It was dark at first until the ground shook beneath them and beams of light rained down, revealing the Mayer, who was floating now, had frightening eyes and an even worse laugh.

"What's the matter Hero of Time? Have you just realised that you're fighting a losing battle?" Came a hidious voice,

"That's Shanklin!" Zane cried

"You're the one, who is going to lose!" Link yelled, "What did you do to the Mayer?"

Shanklin just laughed and the Mayer spun around, firing icicles at them,

Link blinked,

"If you need any of us, focus on the power you need and trust that it will come to you" BOTW Link' voice rang I his ears.

Link looked at Zelph and then at the icicles and they all stopped dead, Link smashed them all and stood by the last one with his sheild out so he could hit the Mayer when time went back to normal. It worked, stunning Zelph,

Link slashed part of the Tri-Force symbol into his back before being thrown across the room. Zelph screamed and then ducked out of the way as the Mayer stomped around the room, holding his back and crying out.

He then fired off more icicles and Link slowed down time, dealt with these, deflected the last at the Mayer and slashed his back with the sword.

The Mayer then picked Link up, jumped onto the ceiling and dropped him.

Mid air Link slowed down time and slashed at the Mayer a few times for good measure before dropping and landing safely.

Once more came the icicles and once more Link slowed down time, he dealt with the icicles and then used the last to deflect back at the Mayer before completing the Tri-Force symbol on the Mayer' back.

The Mayer screamed out in anger, then started to shrink as the power left him and he coward of the floor in the centre of the room.

"The sword really is mighter than thou thought, please, Link, take the mineral upgrade, save Hyrule, save us all!" The Mayer cried

Shanklin was heard screaming in anger and before Link could get to the mineral the whole Cavern started to colapse around them.

Link quickly upgraded the sword and was teleported, along with Zelph and Zane and the other soldiers, frozen further in, to a tower that centred the two quarries with the woodlands and central clearing behind it.

The portals were activated. One leading back to the King of Hi-Range and the other leading to Goron City.

The Mayer was so upset with himself, Link couldn't console him at all.

"My lack of faith allowed Shanklin to change me, to control me" He sobbed, "I wasn't myself when we met, I was counting on you failing, you're just a kid, what the hell do you know of the monsters we've been plagued by for generations? I thought those successes at the other Shrines were flukes but I know now I was wrong, you can defeat Shanklin, you must!"

Link just nodded his head.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

 **A Family Crisis**

There was a celebration at the manor that night but Link, Zelph nor Zane stayed to be a part of it, instead they made their way back to the cabin to discuss their next move.

A treck to Egypt.

"Look, we can't go in there and demand access to the Garudo Tomb, we're going to need someone with us from the tribe" Zane said

"We know someone" Link said, "Well, we don't know him, know him but he might agree to help us"

"Who?" Zelph and Zane asked at the same time

"That waiter from the hotel in Rome" Link said

"Ah!" Zane exclaimed.

With that they immediately took their leave and went back down to the where the portals were, taking the one that would lead to Goron City.

People got a shock when Link, Zelph and Zane just appeared from nowhere and were about to question them when the current Leader arrived.

"Has something happened?" He asked them

"Yes, we need to go to the Garudo Desert but we need a Garudo and there's one at the hotel in Rome, this was the quickest route" Link told him

"No, no, that's absolutely fine, if anyone ueses the portal without due cause from that area we usually stick them with a fine" The leader told him and with that he was gone, "Carry on" He said to the Goron'.

Link, Zelph and Zane made their way down Death Mountain, and through Kakoriko Village, then across a portion of Hyrule field, out onto the road leading to Pompii. They stopped to look out in that direction whistfully,

"We'll go some time" Link told Zelph before looking around, "Looks like we're walking" He added

"You know you can call Epona to you, she'll just travel between mirrors" Zane told Link

"What about you? I can't fit three people on one horse even if she is built like a Shyer" Link said

"Don't you worry about me" Zane said

Link smiled and then used his whistle to call Epona,

They soon heard her familiar neighing and she appeared right beside him and Zelph, nudging Link in the back. Link laughed and climbed up onto Epona, leaning down after to help Zelph up too. Zane smiled and waited for Link and Zelph to be a way ahead of him before shrinking down to Navi size and flying off after them.

When they arrived at the hotel the waiter knew what they wanted and made himself busy until his shift finished when Link, Zelph and Zane finally managed to corner him,

"No!" He said

"Shanklin is gaining power; we need this! We need you!" Link said loudly, "What're you scared of? You're not the one, who's going to be in that place, we are"

"Do you know what's in that tomb?" The waiter asked, flustered

"A mineral" Link said

"It's not a mineral, it's a piece of the Tri-Force" He said tears welling.

Link and Zelph were floored,

"This lobby is not the place for this conversation" Zane said, "Do you live far from here?"

"I'm right around the corner" He said

Link, Zelph and Zane followed the waiter out of the hotel and round the corner to a cute two up two down made of sandstone with pretty painted window sills and flowers. The waiter was nervous as he led them in, down a hallway and into a kitchen, where he stared out and shut the door quietly before looking at them,

"Well sit down?" He said, "My wife is upstairs, she has no idea what I really am"

"We're sorry" Link said honestly

"Ah come on, you're the ones doing all the hard work, we're just left to pray that you don't end up like your father" The waiter said honestly, "How could you not know about the forth Tri-Force piece?"

"What can I tell you? I've seen theories online" Link said

"Shanklin is my father, he's a direct descendent to Calamity Gannon, that monster Cannon was his own creation. I joined the fight last time and my cover was blown. I know what's in that Tomb, I'm the one that buried the last piece of the Tri-Force there, I couldn't let dad get to it. It's the only place Shanklin is afraid of but I can't guarantee he won't send his phantom"

"How is Shanklin gaining the power he has then?" Link asked

"Cannon has a piece of the Tri-Force, Shanklin used to have one but he thought that monster would be able to make better use of it. If you two call the fourth piece of the Tri-Force it's going to get messy because Shanklin could use either you or Zelph to break Cannon from his seal. However, that secret forth piece is the only thing that will guarantee you a win against Shanklin because it has the power of all three" The waiter told Link.

"I'm sorry to have to put this on you but we can't get into that tomb without you, there must be something you can do" Link pleaded

The waiter sat down and thought everything through for a while before standing and going to a draw to take out a phone book.

"This is dangerous but there's always this man here" The waiter said, passing the book to Zane

"Oh no!" Zane exclaimed

"You want my help or not?" The waiter asked

"He's going to have a price" Zane said

"What is it?" Link asked

"The Happy Mask Salesman" Zane told Link, "Tell him your requirments" He added to the waiter

The waiter nodded,

"Wait here" The waiter said

Zane looked down.

A few hours later the waiter came back with a mask in hand,

"What was his price?" Zane asked

"I have to live out the rest of my days in Hyrule Castle Town, selling the mask of youth to the elderly" The waiter said, "You tell my wife I died bravely, this is perminant"

"Woe! Wait, what is?" Link asked, standing up

The waiter put the mask on his face and turned into Link' father.

"His spirit has been split, it lives in the mask now too, the waiter is no more...don't desert us now" He said

Link looked scared now.

"Link" Zelph said reaching out, "Link, it's not him"

"No it's not. I could cope when his spirit came to me via the sword but this is different, it's the eyes more so than the face. I've been telling myself I'm dreaming this whole time; now I couldn't be more awake" Link said, then to the one with his father' face he said, "We're not saying anything to your family because I am going to overturn the Happy Mask Salesman, just as soon as we've dealt with Shanklin"

The waiter nodded but he didn't believe Link at that moment in time.

A note was left explaining that there was a family crisis that needed the waiter' immediate attention. This wasn't too far from the truth, Shanklin was his father and his father wanted to rule the world or end it, either way he was happy, I'd call that a family crisis.

They got the first flight they could book to Egypt and prepared themselves for what was to come.

Link nor Zelph were looking forward to this one but they weren't going to let fear get in the way now. Not when they'd come so far.

As soon as they had landed the waiter took Link, Zelph and Zane a different route out of the airport and down into a tunnel system that seemed to go on forever,

"We're bypassing the city altogether, this leads to the mirror, after that we'll need horses. They trusted your father Link, so hopefully they'll trust me.

Link nodded his head and carried on walking with renewed determiation.

Out at the other end of this tunnel Link found something strange, there were two portions of Hyrule, one on the right and the Garudo settlement and desert on the left, with a black void between the two.

"What's happened here?" Link asked

"This is the clan that were banished, the Garudo were Sheikas, banished to the Twilight, these are the women that returned; full of scorn and outrage, ready to tare down anyone with a connection to Hyrule. Those of us that saw the stupidity of being angry with a generation that died out long ago, like me, left in the middle of the night and just never came back.

I came back but if it wasn't for your father I'd have never gotten away again, he warped me to the Cavern of Frost and from there I came to Rome and Rome is where I stayed" The waiter told him

"I appreciate what you're doing for us" Link told him

"Don't thank me yet" The Waiter replied.

Link called Epona to him and then to his shock the waiter called his father' Epona to him, for the mask he wore, it worked but though this upset Link, he realised it was needed.

Zelph climbed up onto the horse with Link and Zane got up onto the other horse with the waiter, though he was struggling to hide the fact that he was very uncomfortable about it.

They got many stares and whispers from Garudo women but they weren't stopped by any of them until they got to the gate to the desert and a Garudo blocked their path with a spear,

"Halt! You are not needed Link" She told the waiter

"I disagree" The waiter said

"The queen is there already, guarding it; with her life most probably" She told the waiter

"Who's side are you on?" The waiter questioned

"You know I'm on your side but she'll kill me if I let you through"

"Not if we get to her first, you can't let her take the last Tri-Force piece!" The waiter snapped

The Garudo woman sighed and let him, Link, Zelph and Zane through.

Link had to use his Wolf Link senses to see the path they needed to use,

With this vision he could see ghosts of Garudo, sad expressions, heads to the side, whining and turning slowly on the spot about three foot off the ground.

Link shook himself out of this sense for a second,

"You see them don't you?" The waiter said in question

"They're so..." Link began

"Dont!" Zelph cried, "Say it and they'll come after you"

"She's right, just keep going, don't let them touch you or it's over" Zane said warningly

Link went back to using his Wolf Link senses and tried his best to ignore the whining ghosts of the Garudo women.

The next thing they came across were spikey creatures that spun in the air and tried to take the horses, everyone could see these. Link and Zelph had to shoot arrows at them and hope Epona just knew where to walk without direction.

Once these were dealt with Link realised that they were way off course now and back through the whining ghosts they had to rome.

Next they came across a number of quicksand whirpools but only Link could see these,

"OK, we have a number of quicksand whirpools, I need you to follow my exact path" Link told the waiter,

The waiter nodded and with some tricky steps forward and to the side they made it across this patch of desert.

Next they came across a sign and on it, it read that there were three paths they could follow, one would take them to the past but Zane argued they didn't know which era it was in and if it was before the waiter' last visit it was usless to them. The second would take them back to the start of the desert which they really didn't want and the last would lead them to the Garudo Tomb.

"This is so unfair" Link complained

"This wasn't here last time" Zane said

"No, it wasn't" The waiter added

"I have an idea, if we toss an object onto the path we can go back in time to see if it's there and if it is, it's not the right path, that'll eliminate one of them, I say one of us goes back to the entrance of the desert while we toss another object into the path and if it appears there at the entrance we know which path is the right one" Zelph suggested

Everyone loved this idea,

"Who's going back?" Zane asked dreading the answer

"I will" the waiter said, "I can't go back in there"

"You did what we asked of you I think it fair" Link said with a nod,

Zane sighed with relief.

It was decided, an arrow was fired onto the blue lit path, another was fired into the green lit path and then a third was fired into the red lit path.

While they waited for the waiter to find his way back to the desert entrance Link went back in time to find out which path he would be met by. He soon discovered that it was the green path.

The waiter found a better route back thanks to the mask he was wearing and there he found an arrow surrounded by blue light.

He took out his phone and sent a blue square to Zane.

"It's the red path" Zane told them

Link and Zelph nodded and walked Epona along the red lit path. Zane followed on the other horse and soon they found themselves at the entrance to the Garudo Tomb.

Sword at the ready Link lead the way into the tomb, determined to finish the job and save not just Hyrule' people but the entire world it had secretly lived alongside for a millenia.

The tomb was shaped like a serpent with two yellow glowing eyes at the very top. It was intimidating to look at but Link wasn't going to let that sway him.

Into the tomb they stepped and the first thing they noticed was the sound of an instrument being played and the sound of drums and chanting,

"That's the song of awakening, I won't tell you what she needs, she's not going to get it" Zane said

"Spirit Tracks" Link and Zelph said at the same time.

"The games have been a guide to all Hero' of Time, each time we come across anew we know there's trouble brewing" Zane said seriously

They made their way through the only door that wasn't locked and found a very strange sight indeed, the same room was below them but upside down and this floor was not a mirror. There were switches in different places, Link had no idea what he had to do here.

"Uh...a little help here?" He said in question to Zane

"One of you needs to be below us, whichever switch you stand on will be a guide to the switch we need to stand on here" Zane told him

"How do we get down there without breaking something?" He asked

"Link between worlds" Zelph said, realising, "Link, stand by the wall and see what happens"

Link looked confused but did this anyway and sure enough he became a flat, movable piece of wall art that had Zelph in a fit of giggles,

"Hey!" Came Link' muffled voice, "This isn't funny, what if I can't get out again?"

Zelph couldn't take him seriously at all and him trying to shake his head in this state only made her laugh even more.

Even Zane started laughing in the end.

"Work your way down to that room" He told Link

Link treated the brickwork like steps and worked his way around to the first of four platforms and one switch,

"Oh! Zelph, these aren't switches, there are eye switches on the walls; you need to be down here! The lit square will take you down here then when you've hit the switch we swap back again so I can get you to the next platform up!" Link called

"That's brilliant" Zelph said.

In this room there were ladders to get to the switches. There weren't any in the room below.

Zelph reached the first glowing square and stood on it, immediately swapping places with Link. Once there she used the light arrows to shoot the switch, then stepped off and stepped back onto the switch so that Link could use the wall to reach the next one.

Once all the switches had been activated a door appeared at the other end of the room above,

Link rejoined Zelph and Zane and into the next room they went.

Here they found narrow paths and three chests, plus three stone mummies floating around, blocking their path at every turn.

"We need to walk him into the fire but we have to walk together, if we go off in different directions they won't move at all" Zane told them.

Link, Zelph and Zane had to side step along a dead end path to destroy the first one and then back to the centre, across to the far end, then along the left path, forcing the stone mummy on the other side to go the other way with every touch of the wall, and into the fire.

For the third one they met it in the centre, circled it with difficulty and then walked long the left path off from the centre, forcing the stone mummy down the right path off from the centre and into the fire.

The fire was deactivated, affording them the chance to get to the chests.

There was a huge pit between the end of the path on the left off the centre and the door they needed to go through but for now they ignored this.

The chest Zelph opened had a key in it, the one Zane opened had some treasure he didn't need but the one Link opened was a trap and he was flung.

Zelph turned quickly and grabbed Link' hand before he could fall into a black hole. Then she frowned as he helped himself back onto the central path. They realised that not all of the black pits were real.

"I wonder" Link said, "Thank you by the way" He added to Zelph

She smiled and they took careful steps to the end of the path left off the central one and stared at the pit. Zelph shot it with a light arrow and they realised they could walk across to the door.

Beyond this door they found some winding stairs, and they climbed and climbed and climbed.

Every now and then they came across a landing with a trap on it. The first were timed arrows that came out the walls. The second were Beamos, these were trickier to deal with and Link, Zelph and Zane got a few burns to the legs. The third were Knuckle Masters and ghost rats, Link used the spin attack on the rats and the side step tecnique to remove the Knuckle Master' armour. The forth were falling stalictites and Re-Deads.

Finally they found a new door.

They were at the very top of this tomb now and waiting to take them down were four amoured Skelfoes and three Whizrobes, that also summoned bats, Fire Keets, Ice Keets and more Re-Deads.

The battle was intense and went on for quite a while. It nearly killed the three of them and would take a jar each of hot spring water to render them fit enough to just stand again.

"We need stronger armour" Link said.

"I know where we can get one" Zane said, nodding, "It's right through that door" He said with a nod, "But taking it will alert Shanklin' Phantom"

"Will it help?" Link asked

"It'll prevent damage for a time and if I'm right the Light Shield will be with it" Zane told him

So, Link stepped through the door and found the armour and the sheild he'd need. Now he had to deal with the waiter' mother.

The drumming and the chanting stopped the second Link was wearing it.

The whole place shook and Link fell off the edge, straight down to the main entrance, where he was met by the waiter' mother.

To her shock Link just stood up and grinned at her.

She screamed in his face.

Meanwhile Zelph and Zane had gone through a door on the right of the door they had ventured through and down they went, round the winding stairs,

There were no monsters or traps here, it confused Zelph but she was grateful.

When they got to the bottom and ventured through the door here they found a room with a light barrier around it, blocking them from Link and the waiter' mother.

With a look Zelph knew what she had to do,

While the waiter' mother was circling Link, Zane targeted the switches above, that Zelph then shot with light arrows, creating beams of light that hurt the woman' eyes. Link stood in a beam and used the new sheild to burn her until she spun in a circle, putting out the lights.

This plunged them into darkness but Link used his ears to shoot her down, a light shone as she fell, telling Link where to slash part of the Tri-Force symbol.

The second time the waiter' mother spun around she shot spikes at them. Link, Zelph and Zane ducked for cover, Link then took a hit that he didn't feel and again, used his ears to shoot her down.

The third time she summoned Fire Keets but the armour was still working so the light they gave out was her downfall and they finally got her.

She crashed to the floor and cried before being picked up by nothing and banished into a purple fog.

The barrier faded and Zelph and Zane met Link in the middle of the room.

At the far end they found a statue, holding a piece of the Tri-Force,

Link and Zelph' marks shone and Link played the song of discovery.

The forth piece of the Tri-Force was summoned and floated into Link' hand, completing the mark and making the whole thing glow,

"Oh woe" He said

"How?! How could you? A child! Defeat every beast I put in your way!?" This was Shanklin' Phantom,

"When someone threatens your life or the lives of those they care about or even takes the lives of those they love you'll be surprised by what they can do" Link said cooly

"This is where your battle ends Hero of Time, I now have the power I need to bring Cannon back!"

With a secret look at Zelph he allowed Shanklin' Phantom to snatch her.

"You knew he was going to do that" Zane said.

Link and Zane found their way out of the tomb and the desert, then back to Japan and to where the ruins of Hyrule Castle stood.

The very fact that he would be fighting Shanklin on home ground, combined with the complete Tri-Force made him more powerful than Shanklin could ever realise.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

 **The Final Battle and Closure for Link**

To reach Old Castle Town and Hyrule Castle ruins Link and Zane had to travel to Kyoto and venture through the stunning Bamboo forest, for somewhere in the middle sat the last mirror.

There was a strange purple glow about this mirror as Link and Zane stepped through it.

They came out onto part of Hyrule Field where the broken drawbridge lay in a fast flowing river. Link was undeterred by this though, picking up a disguarded axe nearby and using it to chop down a number of trees. Now he had the competed Tri-Force power on top on his own he could do this with ease.

Zane looked on proudly.

Link used the Goron bracelets to drag and then lift and tip the trees across the fast flowing river and over the broken drawbridge to get across to Old Castle Town.

This place was a disaster area right now but you could tell by the houses that remained, people still lived here and one of those was the cocky and creepy Happy Mask Salesman, who hid when he saw Link coming.

"I'll deal with you later" He said

As Link walked through the town with Zane, one by one people came out of their houses to stare at him and then up at the Castle ruins, which had a barrier around it.

Link raised his hand and destroyed the barrier, rendering the town's folk speachless.

The Happy Mask Salesman could be heard screaming in terror at this before Link simply stepped forward and made his way to the caslte gate.

Guarding the gate were two Knuckle Masters. Zane helped Link to defeat these but they didn't drop any keys. Link would have to find another way into the castle.

Link put his sword into the ground until Wolf Link appeared,

"I need you to call Minda, if she can get you up there I'll be able to warp to that point" Link told Wolf Link.

He wasn't sure if this was true but Wolf Link nodded and obliged anyway.

Minda was happy to help, if only to see Link looking like a dog again.

As Link hoped he was warped to every point Minda got Wolf Link too and then down the other side of the wall where Link then unclocked the gate for Zane.

Wolf Link then went back to the sword, taking Minda with him,

Her sigh was heard by three Re-Dead' guarding the door.

Link sighed and played the song of Sunlight, freezing them long enough for him to use his fire arrows on them.

"I'm sorry" He told them as he shot them, "I really am"

The front door opened up for him as the Re-Dead' exploded into purple smoke and with a little trepidation he and Zane stepped inside.

Here he found something he never expected. A train track that climbed the wall of the castle entrance way anti-clockwise with blocks at various points and in the centre of the room the train from Spirit Track's. It was tiny compared to Link and he wasn't sure how on Earth he was supposed to drive it.

"He had the Korki gene but he was the tallest in his family, though I'm not sure what happened to them" Zane said, "I could drive this train" He added

Link gestured for him to try and was amazed to see Zane shrink with his own eyes for the first time,

"You have wings too don't you?" Link siad in question

"Yeah...sorry Link but I couldn't say anything, I have had many forms, this is kind of a favourite of mine" Zane told him. Link grinned, "Want me to make this train big enough to fit you?"

"Yes please" Link said

"I can't do that" Zane grinned

Link laughed and scrunched up beside him on a small bench chair in the cab of the Spirit Track' train but this proved dangerous so in the end Link had to sit in the cart WW Link used to shift ice from one village to another.

Slowly, partly because of Link weight against the train' weight, they started to venture up the tower to the first block.

The door on this platform here was green.

Link jumped off and ventured through the green door.

Zane stayed behind.

Here he found the puppet from the Forest Shrine in grey,

"It's a test to see how far you've come by the spirits that guard each temple. They will unblock the path with each boss you defeat because it'll be proof to them that you may have the power to defeat Shanklin" Came Zane' voice

"Wind Waker" Link said before dealing with it, no problems at all,

The guardian of the Forest Shrine appeared to Link for the first time. He recognised her instantly, it was his Nanna.

"Nanna!" Link yelped, "Tell me you're not dead too"

"No Link I'm not. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you who I really was, I was a direct descendent of Saria'. Not all of the Korki to venture out became human or Skull Kids, some got scared and hid in the form of a dancing leaf, I guard these too as well as the Deku Tree. I'm so proud of you Link. Your sister is too. The path to the next test is open to you, save Zelda, save Hyrule, save the world"

With that she disappeared; there was a shudder and Link left the room to see that they had more track to travel on.

Link got back into the cart and up to the next floor they went.

Here he found a blue door.

In this room Link found the Octopus from the Hylia Shrine. This was harder to deal with because he no longer had his blue tunic, but somehow he managed to defeat it.

Before he could drink some hot spring water the Guardian of the Hylian Shrine appeared.

It was Aqua,

"Thank you again Link, the Zora' feel certain that you can save us now and our diving contest is going ahead, just later than we'd planned. We've also sent an invite to Zelda' friend Ruler. She's good.

The path to the next test is open to you, save Zelda, save Hyrule, save the world"

With that he disappeared, there was a shudder and Link left the room.

He jumped into the cart and on they went, up to the next floor.

Here he found a red door.

In this room Link found a skeletal version of the dragon he'd aided and used his sword to call BOTW Link to him.

This Link was only too happy to help. He'd been thirsty for a real fight.

BOTW Link and Link worked well together and after some effort and the use of BOTW Link' ice arrows they were able to defeat it.

The dragon appeared before them and bowed.

"Thank you Link and Link, you use your sword and your hidden powers well. The path to the next test is open to you"

With that he diappeared, BOTW Link returned to the sword, there was a rumble and Link left the room.

Link jumped back into the cart and onto the next floor they went.

The door here was white.

Within this next room Link found a skeletal version of the Mayer.

Link used BOTW Link' powers of slowing down time to defeat him and once he had Bongo appeared.

"Turn' out I had an important role after all Link, come back and see us when this is over, I want to race you propperly" He said, Link smiled and nodded, "The path to the next test is open to you, be careful Link, your father fell before he could defeat him"

Link nodded, Bongo disappeared, there was a shudder and Link left the room.

Link jumped back into the cart and up to the second to last floor they went

Here there was a yellow door.

In this next room he was faced with a skeletal version of the waiter' mother, this time Link had light arrows, having anticipated what Shanklin would do if the waiter' mother was defeated he had convinced Zelph to halve her arrows with him and with a combination of these and his pips to freeze her temporarily he was able to defeat her.

To Link' surprise the Waiter appeared before him.

"My spirit can overpower the mask one time but unless you can strike a deal with the Happy Mask Salesman I'll be stuck with the Fierce Diety mask forever. Yes, you knew what that mask was the minute you saw it didn't you? Your father is of the fallen hero time line but his soul lends some of it's strength to that mask, if it didn't and you fail then Shade would be stuck in Termnia forever. Doomed to repeat three days over and over. The only one to age. For someone that saved Hyrule without Hyrule ever knowing about it, that hardly seems fair does it?" The waiter said, "Good luck Hero of Time, the path to Shanklin is open for you"

Link nodded as the waiter disappeared, there was a shudder and Link left the room.

One last time Link jumped into the cart and up into the attic they went.

"I'm on my own now aren't I?" Link said to Zane. Zane was upset, "It's going to be OK...Navi"

Zane smiled and he and Lnki shared a hug before Link entered the attic to face Shanklin.

The real Shanklin was taller than Link was expecting.

As Link entered the room Shanklin was draining Zelph' power and life force,

Link was angry now and his retrieval of the Master Sword got Shanklin' full attention.

"You made it this far?" Shaklin asked, then he saw the sword, "Hmm, maybe I underestimated you"

"Is that supposed to impress me? You killed my parents, you had my sister kidnapped and then you took Zelda for good measure. Did you really think, after all this I wouldn't come and rescue her?"

Shanklin laughed.

"You're all the same, "I'm doing this for her" well did you ever stop to think that this girl might be the reason your parents are dead?!"

"That girl you've taken, she is not her mother! She didn't ask for any of this, she doesn't want unity she wants to be Prom Queen for a stupid school dance, she wants to have friends, she doesn't want to rule an entire kingdome or ask the Garudo to forgive and forget what some Hyrule King did to protect his people thousands of years ago!"

"Maybe not now but it's in her DNA, this is the only chance my people have to take back what should have been ours! To get revenge on the Sheika that abandoned us!" Shanklin yelled, shaking the whole building.

"Well good job I'm here to stop you then!" Link yelled back

Shanklin laughed and then turned into a huge beast. Though terrified Link stood his ground. He found a way to reactivate the armour so he woudn't get hurt, no matter what Shanklin in beast form did to him.

He then used BOTW Link' powers to slow time right down, then side stepped, jumped up and slashed the first Tri-Force symbol into the beast' back.

The beast screeched and ran around the room, causing masonary to fall. Link just brushed this off and glared at the beast. The beast came at him again, this time Link slowed time down and climbed up and over his head, before flipping and slicing the second Tri-Force symbol into his back,

The beast fired Link back and into the wall, this hurt as the force had deactivated the armour, but Link just shook it off and ran straight at the beast as the beast ran straight at him. He slowed time down, ran up his head, flipped and slashed the third Tri-Force piece into his back then jumped into the air and used the finishig blow on him.

The beast turned back into Shanklin,

"No! It can't be!" He cried beofre slamming his hand into the floor and transporting him to the highschool in America.

"What the?" Link said in shock.

The place was deserted.

Zelph appeared on the ground at Link' feet, she was really weak but Link managed to get her out of Shanklin' way,

"Link...you have to finished this" She gasped

Shanklin laughed as a black Tri-Force appeared in the ground and black smoke started to rise from it,

"Skyward Sword! I knew someone was missing" Link said

Link whistled and a giant red bird flew down from the sky and scooped him and Zelph up and away from Shanklin and Cannon, who was slowly climbing out of the ground.

Once he was high up enough Link called on the power of the sky, drawing it down to the blade of his Master Sword, before jumping from the bird.

"Link!" Zelph screamed.

Link drove the sword ito the back of Shanklin, there was a bright light that engulfed everything and shook everything, even bringing buildings down and as the light faded the Tri-Force sign was now gold, the sword was embedded in it and Shanklin and Cannon were gone.

"I could't have called that power without the forth Tri-Force piece" Link said as the red bird landed with Zelph.

Zelph go down as Link removed the sword.

The blade was dull and silent now.

"You did it Link, you saved us" Zelph said, "The whole state must have been evacuated because of the quakes, we are pretty close to the ocean here...for the record I never wanted to be Prom Queen"

"He's gone" Link said, looking up in tears.

Zelph knew who he was talking about and the two embraced and cried together.

For the next few days Link, Zelph and Zane went all around Hyrule, in the present and the past and brought a few more along for the ride. First they went back to pick up Mya and Nanna. Skit invited himself along too but Link didn't mind, he was compay for Nanna.

They went to Old Castle Town where Link cornered the Happy Mask Salesman.

After a hefty price, paid for by Zane he agreed to remove the Firce Diety mask from the waiter and give it to the one, that started the business in the era of the Ocorina.

The waiter was warped from the town to his kitchen, scaring the life out of his wife, who threw a frying pan at him.

Next they went to Goron City during the Hyrule Civil War, where Link entrusted the leader with the Hero' Bow and Skit raced with the Gorons and won, causing them to ban non Goron' from the race there on in, but non Goron' could still watch.

Skit was very tickled by this.

Link, Zelph and Zane raced with the Yeti', watched by the others and Link told the Mayer to stop comparing his sons, they each had their own paths and minds and he should express pride in both of them.

Next they went to Zoras' Domain to watch the diving competion, this was Mya' favourite event of all.

Ruler did really well for her first Zora competion and was honoured to be chosen.

She took to Aqua straight away but her advances sent him flying into the lagoon below as he had never experienced affection before. He didn't know what to do with it.

Link told Ruler to give him time and she laughed.

It was the best week of Link' life but all too soon he was stood in a large Cathedral in Japan with the Tri-Force symbol on the floor and two coffins behind him. That of his mother and that of his father.

Mya was crying by his side, Nanna and a sombre Skit were sat on a bench to their left.

The priest was doing his final blessing when Zelph, The King, Borack, Aqua and the waiter arrived, along with his Epona and his father' Epona.

There was somone else familiar there too, a new Knight for the King; it was Colin.

"Did you honestly think after everything that we wouldn't be here for you Link?" Zelph said

Link cried as Zelph reached him and they shared a hug,

Zelph stepped back and Borak hugged Link, gently this time,

"Stay strong my brother" He said

Link nodded through the tears and then he was hugged by Aqua and then had a handshake with the waiter before the King then said a few words.

"I was wrong when I said hero' don't cry, a real hero does" The King told him

"We will now move from here to the cemetary where I will say a few more prayers and we will lay these two to rest so if you'll follow after Link and his sister..." The priest said

Link fell apart again as Skit stood up and helped the King, Borak, Aqua and the waiter to carry his parent' coffins.

Link then got up onto his Epona, Nanna didn't feel comfortable so declined and stood behind the horses. Zelph helped Mya onto Link' father' Epona before climbing up herself and following the coffins.

Outside Hylian, Kokiri, Korki both young and old, Ordon, Zora', Sheika, Goron and Hylian lined both sides of the street alongside well wishers from Tokyo, who had come out to pay their respects, stunned by how enormous and how much press the funeral had received.

For this Link had a stiff upper lip but he was incredibly touched.

His life had changed forver and though, right now he was mourning his greatest loss he couldn't have been more grateful for what that loss had brought into his life.

Hyrule and more importantly...Zelda

In the centre of the Tri-Force symbol in the Temple of Time stands the Master Sword, waiting for the day it will be called on once again.

 **The End**


End file.
